Practice:
Shuang Li studies the various mediums composing the contemporary digital landscape. Her work encompasses performance, interactive websites, sculpture and moving image installations.

Technique:
The shell sculpture is made of welded stainless steel sheets with color paint. The process starts with sculpting a mold of foam and hammering the stainless steel sheets into desired shapes and contours. The sheets are then welded together, forming the hollow case of the shell. The surface is treated with sanding paper and repair paste until it is smooth enough for paint. Car paint is used and the final work has a base coat, several color coats, and a transparent top coat in glossy, semi-matt or matt.

Description:
Shuang Li’s deeply poetic seashell series deals with the concepts of home, belonging and protection. In her hands these mobile homes come to represent home in the realm of otherness. The title of this particular piece points to language as a protective shell. The double meaning of “sharpest” suggesting either aggressiveness or intellect, both primarily guarding mechanisms of language. Meanwhile, Li’s playful aesthetic alludes to holiday souvenirs and childhood toys. Her works embody a millennial nostalgia. She alludes to memory and identity. The sound of the sea heard when you lift a shell to your ear becomes a metaphor for our link to our pasts and our lands of origin lying beneath the surfaces our shells.

Reference:
The title is a line from My Chemical Romance's song "Headfirst for Halos" released in 2002.