Matthew Laurence

The five elements and their cycles of balance and imbalance are the basis for much of China’s culture. These elements were used for describing interactions and relationships from the world as we experience it. Wood, Fire, Earth, Metal, and Water are considered to be phases of a cycle of change. The five phases describe both a creative cycle and a destructive cycle of interactions between the phases. These cycles are sometimes called “mutual production” and “mutual conquest”, similarly to our daily struggles and successes in relationships and of self-awareness. This work is a representation of these interactions.

Each element generates another and is generated by one, as well as controlling and being controlled by one. The figure is represented as one of the elements to associate these forces in our daily interactions and relationships with one another from the bonds that hold us together and which also draw us apart.