ASSASSINATION – Voyage to Paradise, Volume 1
2023-2024
The project "Assassination – Voyage to Paradise" focuses on the past and present life journey of pearls. It is divided into three chapters:
"The Kills" (the assassination), "The Voyage," and "The Paradise."
Speculatively exploring pearls and other materials related to them, such as Pinctada margaritifera (pearl oyster) and coral, the works celebrate materiality. They delve deeply into the myth of a life journey crossing continents, the dramatic moments, and the undeniable beauty inherent in pearls.
The first chapter of works from this project partially debuted at Vana-Võromaa Kultuurikoda in the exhibition 'In Loving Hands: Combining the Past with the Future - Jaanus Samma & Hansel Tai' in May 2023. Part of the work also debuted as the cover of Metalsmith Magazine Volume 44/2024-1 published by the Society of North American Goldsmiths (SNAG).
Booklet Hansel Tai: Assassination – Voyage to Paradise, Volume 1
Nude Jade Pierced
Vol.4 Guanyin
Nude Jade Pierced (2018–present) is an ongoing project utilizing jadeite and its associated minerals as primary materials, now in its fourth volume. The project uses jade as its focal point, delving into the culture of the global young Pan-Asian LGBTQIAA+ community, conducting a sectional and nuanced exploration of their aesthetics.
Revered for its translucence and skin-like lustre, jade in Asia is seen as the epitome of perfection and purity, traditionally carved into intricate mythological and religious figures.
The fourth volume, Guanyin, reinterprets carved Guanyin pendants by piercing them with heavy stainless steel rings or threading jade bead chains through the figure’s body, transforming the jade into the spine of these chains. These piercing actions, often deemed irreverent or incorrect by traditional jade-carving standards, challenge conventional norms.
The project comprises four volumes to date: Nude Jade Pierced (Vol.1), Nude Cuboid (Vol.2), Brutal States (Vol.3), and Guanyin (Vol.4).
NEO-GENESIS
Free Falling in the Cyber-Apocalypse
Free Falling in the Cyber-Apocalypse
Third Lotus Prince in Outer Space
About ‘Third Lotus Prince in Outer Space’
The Third Lotus Prince is a mythological deity that has the body of a lotus and who fights dragons in search of a new body. This quest for a new identity leads them into acts of rebellion and sacrifice, often at odds with the reigning rules and regulations in society-at-large. Floating somewhere in between the physical and cybernetic domain, this collection of contemporary adornments visualizes and materializes the magical weaponry of the Third Lotus Prince from a queer-dominated perspective. By positioning the mythological God in an unapologetically queer hyperstitional reality, Hansel creates room for an alternative interpretation of notions surrounding identity, sexuality and power. With this timely interpretation of a century-old myth, Hansel challenges us to further explore and interrogate our banal conceptions of life in the past, present, and the apocalyptic future.
- Joannette van der Veer, Curator
from Exhibition GEM Z: The Farthest from Earth We’ve Ever Been
from Exhibition GEM Z: The Farthest from Earth We’ve Ever Been
BMP (Blue Milk Pierced)
