"Limulus" is a sculptural handmade piece handmade with leather, its shape and form resembling a horseshoe crab.
The horseshoe crab symbolizes one's sense of self-worth, value and potential. As I am entering my mid to late 20s, I have found a need to reassess myself, my habits and point of views to navigate this evolving world.
I resonate with this creature as I recently had been reflecting on my experiences and interests in my childhood. The horseshoe crab is a creature that had withstood the test of time and remained primitive, which I find comforting in their enduring and surviving form. It helps ground me and reminds me that I sometimes put more pressure toward myself than necessary, towards my own choices and thoughts - like this creature that has not changed its form for over 300 million years, there is no fault in merely existing, and letting existence flow through me.
Choosing to take on the challenge in putting more of my interests into my practice, the tedious and repetitive nature of the hand-sewing and crafting process allowed me to pour my soul into my work and to hunker down and focus only in the moment to create a beautiful tactile protective shell made of leather. Leather is a material I had always resonated since my early 20s as it is a tough, durable material but soft to the touch. Its physical form is akin to human skin, a protective layer over something tender and fragile underneath. It somehow reminds me of who we are as people - or rather what we are - the warmth of the flesh, and the certainty of death.
Further notes:
- Brachyura (true crabs), Anomura (some evolved into and out from crabs), Chelicerata (horseshoe crabs)
- Carcinisation (Mesozoic Decapod Revolution)
- H.G. Wells' 1895 "The Time Machine", regarded as one of the first modern sci-fi literary works, where literally everything in the far, far distant future is giant crabs.
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