In this assignment, I decided to research and recreate an artifact that connects me to my roots and ethnic background: ancient Chinese seals. My dad makes seal engravings for friends and family as a hobby and I have always been intrigued by the art form, so I thought this was a perfect opportunity for me to explore its history and culture as well as learn some stone-carving skills.
I decided to make a carving of my last name, 楊 (Yeung), in traditional seal script, as name engravings were the most common kinds of seals. With my dad’s guidance, I spent roughly five to six hours from designing to carving and finalizing. The process was quite tedious and I had to be very cautious to stay within the white space when engraving to prevent cutting off any strokes of the Chinese character, but patience is a major aspect of this art form and I slowly grew to enjoy it more and more.
Photography approach
For photographing my artifact and description, I had many ideas and inspiration photos from my research. Initially, I thought of writing my description on the brown piece of paper that ended up being the background of the photo, but the paper was very thin and ink would easily leak through. In the end, I opted for a simple piece of thick white paper, which I propped onto a small piece of stone to create a sense of depth and hierarchy in the photo. I was fortunate to have many extra seals and tools that I could use as props, but since the other seals were slightly larger than the one I chose to engrave, I had a hard time making my artifact the centre of attention when I arranged them side by side. Thus, I went with a composition that makes the focal point stand out through the use of the red ink and also by making both the seal and description closer to the camera. I also wanted to display what the seal would look like as a stamp, so I stamped it on the paper and cropped the photo so that it would appear at the bottom right corner, which is where they would have been placed as signatures when they were first created and used. From experimenting with different angles and layouts to capturing the final image, the process took around two to three hours.
Reference Images
Self-Evaluation
Overall, I enjoyed the majority of this assignment, from the creation of the artifact to taking the final image. I am also quite proud of the final photo as I like that I was able to show the seal and the design when it is stamped on paper in an effective and creative way. Though I would give myself a 9.5/10, as I had a little trouble creating the museum description in terms of its size in relation to the artifact and ink smudging, and it could have been better executed and more legible. Combining the estimated amount of time I spent on the different parts of the project, I used a total of 8-10 hours from the initial research stage to the final execution.
Sources
https://www.inkston.com/stories/guides/chinese-seals/
chinahighlights.com/travelguide/culture/chinese-seals.htm
http://www.chinaonlinemuseum.com/carving-seals.php
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Seal_(East_Asia)