Researching into the history of cane sugar, the artist was curious if she can excavate a path that this material traveled across countries and landscapes by looking at the way names of sugar were being translated. In this research she found a scroll roll that its front side contained a holy buddhism script and on the back, a list of instructions to make cane sugar. The scroll carried by Indian monks introduced the process to Chinese artisans who then refined this process and carried back to India. The recipe also recorded an unfamiliar name of cane sugar in Chinese, which is a direct translation from Sanskrit. This discover inspired famous Chinese scholar and linguist Ji Xianlin to research into the history of cane sugar and its significance in culture communication.
To the artist, the combination of holy text and sugar recipe carried through time and space symbolize communication and intimacy. It is sacred not only because of the religious text, but also the land, the people, the history and the material.
This scroll was taken at the end of empirical China to Germany, and now only known as its archival name P3303.
