Andrea Auer, Austria

Bread and butter

Suzhou, a megacity south of the Yangtze River (China), counts more than 10 million inhabitants – more than my native country Austria. Much of what I experienced there during my three-month stay in 2019 appeared to me to be larger, higher, wider.
Jade art and pearl jewellery are big in China. Doubtless, manifold imitations thereof also exist. Imitating nature has always been a fascinating challenge for us humans. Remembering China I created Megapearls, individual, oversized baroque pearls that flirt with real pearls.
Two pieces of tile picked up in 2019 and 2022 on a walk along Kalarand Beach in Tallinn (Estonia). Sand and sea have worn and smoothed the pieces into this shape. With only very few interventions I turned the finds into jewellery and named them bread and butter because both tiles show white glaze on one side, reminding me of a slice of bread smeared with butter. As an inlander, when I think of the beach and the sea, I think of foreign lands together with a desire to visit them.