Kintsukuroi is a traditional Japanese pottery technique where a vessel is broken and then mended back together with the use of molten gold. The term means “to mend with gold” in Japanese, and the aesthetic tradition postulates that the end product is more beautiful and dynamic for having been broken. This concept asserts certain principles that relate to truth and authenticity, and how they in turn relate to beauty.

This mixed media exhibition by Artists James Knight and Steffen Quong explores the concept of Kintsukuroi from the human perspective. As individuals we form the broken pieces, and it is in the bonds of life the true form of our existence, in all its delicacy and beauty, is revealed. The work is ripe with vibrant and symbolic imagery, but the rotary phone is used as a particularly important metaphor in this body of work, as it represents communication and relationships – the molten gold that binds us in our journey in life. The show’s underlying theme is a gesture to the viewer to remind us that we can find recourse for comfort in the awareness that life, however broken, is beautiful.