Shelter
Baking paper, citrus, fabric, cotton thread, spray-painted umbrella structure, 90 × 90 × 75 cm, 2026
 
Artwork Statement
Shelter reimagines the structure of an umbrella as a temporary space shaped by memory, emotion, and repetitive handwork. Using traces left by baked citrus on baking paper, Qianxun Li hand-stitches each fragment onto the umbrella surface, gradually building a layered structure through time-intensive processes of sewing, accumulation, and repair. As the scattered organic marks connect, the work develops into a fragile yet expanding form.
Warm-toned textures illuminated by light resemble plant tissue or tree canopies, while gaps within the surface allow interior and exterior spaces to subtly merge. Transforming an everyday object associated with protection and shelter, the work reflects on belonging not as a fixed place, but as an inner space constructed through lived experience, memory, and emotional connection. Like a tree slowly shaped over time, the installation gestures toward the personal sanctuaries individuals create for themselves within conditions of movement and uncertainty.
 
Artist Bio
Qianxun Li is a Melbourne-based interdisciplinary artist from China, currently undertaking a Master of Fine Art at RMIT University. Her practice explores the relationship between natural traces, material transformation, and sensory experience through metal, paper, fibres, and organic materials. Through stitching, layering, transfer, and repetitive handwork, she creates installations, wearable objects, and spatial works that reflect on memory, fragility, and the shifting connections between nature, materiality, and everyday experience.