Phantasmal Gallery
Phantasmal Gallery
Yilina
Yang
ARTIST · ICICLE EXHIBITION · FEBRUARY 2026
Ghost of Vanity
Ceramic, anitique springbok hide
2025
120 x 60 x 15 cm
Ghost of Vanity appears as an antique springbok hide displayed like a trophy rug, yet disturbingly animated: a pair of clawed arms juts out from the fur. Visually, it recalls a hunting trophy, an extravagant form of domestic decoration that is literally the result of a kill. The haunted presence beneath the hide reveals the seductive danger of vanity: how humans pursue desire through the control and domination of nature. Hundreds of butterflies surround the form, feeding on decay. Each butterfly is handmade from ceramic, emphasizing the delicacy and fragility of life.
A Little Bit About The Artist
A Statement From The Artist
Ghost of Vanity appears as an antique springbok hide displayed like a trophy rug, yet disturbingly animated: a pair of clawed arms juts out from the fur. Visually, it recalls a hunting trophy, an extravagant form of domestic decoration that is literally the result of a kill. The haunted presence beneath the hide reveals the seductive danger of vanity: how humans pursue desire through the control and domination of nature. Hundreds of butterflies surround the form, feeding on decay. Each butterfly is handmade from ceramic, emphasizing the delicacy and fragility of life.
What's your fave Gothic movie?
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Emily Brontë's Wuthering Heights (1992)
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Who or what is the biggest influence in your practice?
My practice is most strongly influenced by historical Vanitas traditions and decorative modes of display, particularly how beauty and abundance have been used to mask impermanence. These references are combined with fragments of contemporary visual culture and everyday experience, allowing me to examine how similar dynamics operate within the present moment. I am drawn to the emptiness that sits beneath these seductive surfaces, which holds a calm form of madness.
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