Yirui Su

This work depicts the life journey of a Tujia woman. The inspiration comes from the designer's own Tujia cultural background, with the questions "Who am I?" and "Who are we?" running through the entire creation. When detached from the soil of one's native culture, what kind of support can a minority background provide to a designer? In search of ways to renew Tujia culture, the designer approaches it from five life ceremonies: birth, adulthood, Guan Nuo (a traditional exorcism ritual), longevity, and funeral. These ceremonies are the original answers accumulated by the Tujia people over time regarding their life, gender, and views on nature.In the design context, the designer has updated the meaning, shape, and usage of all the ritual implements involved in these ceremonies, creating five new ritual implements (longevity lock, adult hairpin, twelve Nuo bracelets, longevity ring, and funeral neck ornament) that are linked by ritual music. The ritual music is played through a White Tiger soundbox, with each block corresponding to a ceremony and a tiger bone needle. As the needle is drawn out and the ritual music plays, the ritual participant can combine the tiger bone needle with the wooden ritual implement and wear it. The ritual music constructs the ritual space, and the behavior of the participants completes the ritual in a closed loop.However, it is important to note that due to respect for the rituals and the irreversibility of a single life process, there is only one tiger bone needle for each ceremony, and the ritual music can only be played once.