balance of power

2026, Oil on Italian Linen, 101.6 x 101.6cm

This work brings together two histories that are rarely considered together: the rise of porcelain as one of Europe’s most coveted commodities, and the military power that shaped the movement of goods, knowledge and wealth between cultures. Long prized as a symbol of refinement and status, porcelain carried a history of trade, imitation and technological secrecy that was inseparable from the political ambitions of empire.

Within the broader series, value is continually reassessed through acts of intervention and recontextualisation. Here, the material itself becomes the argument. A symbol of violence is recast in a medium associated with luxury, exposing the uneasy relationship between beauty, commerce and power.

The title extends beyond the object, pointing to the systems that determine not only the movement of commodities, but also the movement of ideas, cultural authority and artistic value.