Blue, White, and Cultural Memory

Supported by the Cultural Office of the Polish Embassy in Beijing, this series was developed during an artist residency hosted by the Art Gallery/Museum in Kraków. The project stems from Yulong’s encounter with historical collections of blue-and-white porcelain housed in Polish state museums. These vessels were neither purely original Chinese creations nor simple authentic imports, but rather localized adaptations, imitations, and trade products, capturing a fascinating narrative of cultural exchange, interpretation, and migration across continents.

Reflecting on the turbulent histories shared by both Poland and China, Yulong saw these localized porcelain objects as silent witnesses to resilience.

Drawing inspiration from the philosophy of Kintsugi (the art of mending broken ceramics with gold), the project explores how cultural artifacts act as seam-lines over historical fractures. Through precise brushwork and color-block storytelling, Yulong translates the fluid journey of cobalt blue into a poetic meditation on cultural memory, endurance, and self-healing.