Aysheila Zou

My family has been moving around a lot; they just moved to the 10th apartment a month ago. Due to this high frequency, I never feel belonged to any of the houses I’ve lived in, it’s more like a place I sleep every night. This sleep lamp that I carried with me to every new place we moved, provided me a sense of familiarity and comfort. Inspired by the lack of emotional attachment to “home”, I decided to work on a piece conveying fragmentation and impermanence through the icon of mosaic glass. I combined the concepts of a lamp, a dream catcher, and a wind charm, and made a hanging lamp with bells. I had difficulty fixing the glass, so I met with Professor Michelle and did research on the type of glue and materials to use. I worked on a lot of details, including painting them gold on the edges to match the color of the structure, putting bells and doing beadings on the pendants. By lighting this up, it contains a mix of emotions of dis-belonging and warmth of a safe spot in my memory of home.