Food and Funeral began with a disturbing moment during a meal. While eating grilled fish, I noticed wild fish swimming freely outside the window, which made me realise how easily death becomes invisible once an animal is transformed into food. Inspired by Ralph Waldo Emerson’s reflections on concealed slaughter, the project imagines a symbolic “funeral” for the animals we consume.

Through a series of animal-shaped vessels functioning simultaneously as tableware and urns, the work blurs the boundary between nourishment and mourning, inviting viewers to reconsider the lives hidden behind everyday acts of eating.

The project developed through the design of ten urn prototypes, each documented from both front and back views as part of an ongoing process of formal experimentation. Through iterative sketching and refinement, I explored variations in proportion, silhouette, and symbolic detail, gradually shaping vessels that operate as both functional objects and commemorative forms.

Alongside the ceramic designs, I produced a photographic book composed of funeral-like table arrangements in which the vessels appear as symbolic offerings. These staged images are contrasted with photographs of animals in their living, free states before death, creating a tension between vitality and consumption.

To further inform the work, I visited ceramic workshops in Jingdezhen to observe traditional techniques of hand-moulding, carving, and surface decoration. Through conversations with local artisans, I studied practices such as blue-and-white porcelain and underglaze painting, exploring how material, form, and colour are integrated within ceramic craft traditions. This field research directly influenced both the structural language and surface treatment of my own vessel designs.

In the final photographic series, real food associated with each animal was placed inside the corresponding vessels to heighten the sense of realism. The objects were arranged on black-draped tables alongside candles and plates to evoke the solemn atmosphere of a funeral ritual. For each animal, I also wrote a short mourning poem, combining image and text as a quiet act of tribute. A flip-through video was created to document the complete unfolding of the book.