Emma Zhang, Jon Waters & Siriporn Falcon-Grey

Killing Time

Medium: Archery, Ceramics, and Film

Dimensions: 17cm high / 12cm diameter

Price: Ceramic piece $450

Watch the video here

The purpose of this collaboration was not for scientific research, but purely for performance art.

Emma Zhang (Rui Ceramics) created three ceramic pieces by using the potter's wheel. The first two pieces were made with terracotta clay and created the day before the shoot which made them leather hard. The pots were joined together at their bottoms to give height and a middle platform in which sat a balloon filled with clay slip. The third pot was made using stoneware clay and a cinched waist to hold a slip filled balloon and immediately transferred to the set for shooting. Both ceramic pieces were created with an hourglass shape representing time.

Jon Waters (Swoon Media) filmed and edited each shot, experimenting with different angles and film speed. This performance art piece was filmed outside and not in a studio. The objective was to capture the atomization from the slip when the balloons exploded once they are punctured by the arrows.The Chiaroscuro style of  lighting highlights the details in this short slow motion film, emphasising the dramatic effect of the arrows penetrating the clay.

Siriporn Falcon-Grey (Falcon Grey Ceramics) is a traditional barebow archer. This type of archery uses no sights or modern aids and the arrows were shot off the shelf of the bow. Wooden arrows were used for this shoot with feather fletchings. The draw on the bow is 20lbs and a hail of arrows was let loose until the slip filled balloons exploded.

process photos