Shattered Jade into Drawer

The Memory of Jade: A Multi-Sensory Installation



When I was in high school, my mother’s jade bracelet broke. Surprisingly, instead of discarding it, she carefully wrapped it and stored it in her bedroom drawer, where it remains to this day. This bracelet, the first gift my father gave her, was always on her wrist, and even my name, “Qi,” means “precious jade” in Chinese. This made me reflect on why jade holds such significance in Chinese culture and why my mother treasures the broken bracelet despite its loss of market value.



Through Anna Moran’s *Love Objects: Emotion, Design and Material Culture*, I learned that objects carry emotional value beyond their material worth. Their significance is tied to the memories and relationships embedded in them. Inspired by artists Yoon Soo-jin and Rachel Whiteread, I explored the sensory qualities of materials and selected four—resin, gelatin, wax, and ice—to represent the passage of time. These materials became the foundation of my installation, which tells the story of my mother and her jade bracelet through an interactive experience.



In this installation, I sampled sounds from four spaces in our home—bedroom, kitchen, bathroom, and balcony. These sounds represent “movement,” symbolizing my mother wearing the bracelet as she moved through these spaces over two decades. The materials, on the other hand, represent “stillness,” embodying the unique functions of each space. The installation connects these sounds to four material “drawers” using ultrasonic sensors. When participants interact with each drawer and touch the materials, they trigger corresponding sounds, opening a window into my mother’s emotional memories.



This project explores the narrative possibilities of materials and sound and seeks to express the profound emotional connection between people and objects. It invites the audience to experience the interplay of time, space, and memory through a deeply personal lens.