Image: Ruth Ju-Shih Li, Florilegium II , 2023, wax, cotton, sandalwood oil, found object , 43x23x21. Courtesy of MARS and the artist.

Autobiographical in nature, Ruth Ju-shih Li’s Florilège series are ephemeral wax sculptures built around single cotton wicks perched on antique candle holders. Extending on Ruth’s ephemeral clay practice, this work is a venture into new ephemeral methodologies, materials, ritual, and performance. Stable until it is lit, each sculpture embodies a suspended moment awaiting its activation through the introduction of fire.

Organic in form, the sculptures exist in a liminal space—neither purely flora nor fauna, releasing sandalwood scents that recall the artist’s childhood memories of her grandmother’s incense-filled home in Taipei. Utilising time as a material, the sculptures flourishes, fluctuates and decays. Each piece is a celebration of impermanence, renewal and the cyclical nature of life, embracing every season.

Inspired by personal memories, familial ties and cultural rituals, Florilège speaks a universal language of flowers, exploring the fragility and transformation of existence. These temporary sculptures embody an ongoing process of becoming and its ambiguous ontological state of flux. Informed by her interest in articulating the complexities of her cultural identities, Li draws inspiration from the language of dreams and myths to examine cultural confluences as an inclusive language into the spiritual.

Opening event: Thursday 13 March, 6-8pm