Haitian Liu

This practice-based PhD explores how everyday objects become carriers of meaning in relation to death, memory and ageing. Focusing on both Chinese and UK contexts, the project investigates how middle-aged and older adults understand and negotiate mortality through the things that surround them in daily life. Using photography, installation and sound, the research examines how ordinary materials can gently open conversations about a subject that is often treated as taboo.

The project is informed by Buddhist concepts of the elements (earth, water, fire, wind and emptiness) and by contemporary death studies. Recent studio work includes a series of balance-based installations using melting ice, leaking sand, candle flames and balloon “breath” to evoke the gradual dissolution of the body and the passing of time. A further installation experiments with X-ray films and moving projections of the sea, creating drifting, jellyfish-like light traces that suggest spectral, near-invisible presences.

Alongside the practical work, the research engages with artists such as Chiharu Shiota, Christian Boltanski and Tehching Hsieh, etc, as well as international centres for death and society research. By combining artistic practice with contextual and community-based inquiry, the project aims to offer quieter, more reflective ways of approaching death—neither sensational nor sentimental—inviting viewers to consider mortality as an ongoing, shared part of life.

Names of Supervisors:

• Pernille Spence
• Gair Dunlop