刘奕杉 Liu Yishan
CV
Incense and Devotion:
A Journey through Folk Beliefs
Incense Worship and Offering
Incense worship, dating back to ancient China, has long been seen as a bridge between humans and the divine. British anthropologist Brown argued that rituals serve to immortalize the social value of what is worshipped.
Drawing on the WGSN Rustic Spirit trend, this project explores folk worship and incense. Through visual experiments on incense burning and ash transformation, I extract these spiritual symbols and translate them into garment design, reinterpreting traditional culture in a contemporary context.
/ Inspiration
The incense offering ritual, through the burning and transformation of incense, creates a sacred bridge for communication between humans and deities, providing a transcendental spiritual experience. The transformation of incense and ash is not just a physical change, but a spiritual elevation. In this process, the faithful's wishes and prayers are met with divine responses, and the incense as a medium brings purification, comfort, and strength to the soul. This ritual allows worshippers to experience harmony and unity with the heavens and deities.
/ Development
The rising smoke symbolizes the transmission of spirit or energy, with the wishes of the faithful sent to the heavens or spirit world, receiving divine response and protection.Different smoke shapes carry various religious meanings, such as straighter smoke symbolizing good fortune. I explored this concept through an experiment observing the forms of smoke.
The results of the experiment were translated into a series of silhouette transformations in the garments. I conducted experiments on incense burning and ash transformation, observing traces and shapes, which were then translated into visual symbols for the garment design.
/ Presentation