This project is aiming to experience the process of following a designed research plan to formulate a narrative and an artwork, to evaluate the necessity of a rational research in an artistic project. 

The subject of the artwork is displacement – the displacement of identity and the displacement of craft heritage. As a Chinese living in Sweden for around ten years, displacement is a longstanding theme in my art and a lens that I subconsciously observe the world through. Therefore, I interpret the issue of craft heritage in the contemporary society as displacement. Against the backdrop of globalization and consumer culture, almost all craft heritage are experiencing a displacement from its original cultural and societal context, having been marginalized and lost the connection to people’s daily life.

This project used wax batik as a paradigm to discuss the potential development opportunity for craft heritage. Inspired by Deleuze’s becoming and rhizome theory, the theoretical research and studio experimentations formed a broad theoretical and practice base that paved the way for the formulation of the narrative and the final artwork. The implementation of this project proved that a rational research could play a significant role in terms of facilitating the agencies and actions that are leading to the final artwork. Additionally, an adequate research enables the work to be articulated and discussed in language.

Becoming is the key word of the output of the project. Instead of being considered as fading from the contemporary society, displaced craft heritage has the potential to adapt to the new context and become something new; every one of us has the possibility to propose a brighter future for craft heritage. Displacement is a prerequisite for the becoming.