1 A message to the reader in Shanghainese.
2 A message to the reader in Mandarin.
大家好，我的名字是Shen Li。曾经急切地梦想着长大后拥有别墅和智能手机的我，如今却在夜深人静时，怀念起那破旧的石库门老房子和早已褪色的旧玩具。我的作品通过金属与玻璃的媒介，唤起人们对美好传统、亲人和旧物的回忆，让这些珍贵的情感在心中延续，带着希望与念想，我们继续生活。
3 A message to the reader in English.
Hello, friends. My name is Li Letitia Shen. As someone who once eagerly dreamed of growing up to own villas and smartphones, I now find myself, reminiscing about that old, dilapidated Shikumen house and the faded toys of my childhood. Through the mediums of metal and glass, my practice evokes memories of cherished traditions, loved ones, and treasured objects, allowing these precious emotions to endure in our hearts. With hope and longing, we live.
It was 2024 when I returned to Shanghai during the summer holiday to visit my family and a dental specialist to have a tooth pulled. I was told that the home I had lived in since I was born would be demolished in a couple of years. This news brought back memories of my grandma pulling out my baby tooth: tying a thread into a small loop, placing it over the wobbly tooth, and gently lifting it. In just a few seconds, the tooth would come out. She always reminded me of the traditional Chinese way of dealing with baby teeth: throwing the upper ones under the bed and the lower ones onto the roof to bless the adult teeth so they would grow straight. At this point in time, I realised my home was as fragile as those teeth: once a force pushed against them, they fell off effortlessly.
Li Letitia Shen mourns the loss of heritage buildings in Shanghai with jewellery evoking the objects of a lost childhood.
My home belongs to a unique Chinese building style called Shikumen 石库门. These single-story or double-storey structures are a fusion of the traditional Jiangnan residential style and the British terrace building style. They first appeared in 1869 due to the influx of a large number of Chinese into the Shanghai public settlement and the rising demand for housing.
However, time has taken its toll. In 1992, the government launched a renovation program targeting dilapidated and precarious structures, including many Shikumen, which were slated for demolition due to poor living conditions, serious safety risks and a lack of essential facilities. Today, about 70% of the more than 9,000 Shikumen in the city have been demolished, with only a few preserved as cultural heritage.
Knowing the government’s urban development plans, I worry about the future of the tooth tradition. With the majority of Shikumen being replaced by towering modern buildings, how can baby teeth still be thrown onto the roof?
Reflecting on the impending loss of both the tradition and my home, I produced Tooth, Tooth, Throw It Onto The Roof. In Tooth 1, the tooth sits leisurely on the tiger window 老虎窗, symbolizing that the demolition has yet to be noticed. This kind of dormer window was introduced to Shanghai by the British when the port opened for trade in 1843. In Britain, where winters are snowy, dormer windows provide additional lighting. The English word “roof” sounds similar to the Shanghainese word for “tiger”, which is how the style came to be called “tiger window.” The other three also reflect different stages of Shikumen’s decline: moving out, demolition and wreckage. Designed as brooches, they are meant to be worn on the shoulder, chest, knee and ankle.
I primarily use the metal-folding technique. I scrape lines onto pure silver, file them to create depth, and bend the metal to specific angles. Finally, I solder the edges to strengthen the metal and prevent it from cracking, as the areas where the lines are filed become very thin. I incorporate silver with rusted iron and lampworked glass. The former imitates aged, weathered roofs, brick walls and creaky floors. While the latter mimics the texture of the real teeth and further symbolizes fragility.
Fade Away is another series born from the heartache of the impending demolition. While packing for the move, I stumbled upon small toys. They are precious relics from my great-grandma: A bird-repelling rod, a fishing toy, a water ring game, and an eight-note xylophone. Each one carried her warmth, her care. Every Chinese New Year, she gifted me one until she left me in 2022. I held them in my hands, but time had worn them down—their once-shiny metallic coatings had dulled, and the vibrant colors had faded. I realized I couldn’t hold on to her, just as I couldn’t hold on to the toys’ lustre. The traditions she passed down to me—those fragile threads tying me to the past—felt just as delicate, just as easily lost.
I really like the discolouring of enamel heated on pure silver in the kiln. It symbolises the fading of toys and childhood over time. Glass components, crafted using the lampworking technique, replace the original plastic parts, emphasizing both the fragility of toys and the delicate nature of childhood memories. I invite viewers to interact with the rings; they can spin or produce sounds, encouraging the recollection of past moments and connections. Yet, the mechanisms never fully function—serving as a gentle reminder that, no matter how much we yearn for the past, we can never truly return to it.
Through my work, I try to hold onto these fleeting moments: the laughter beneath the Shikumen when my tooth was pulled, and my family mimicked the way I spoke with a lisp and slurred speech; the warmth of my great-grandma, gently coaxing me to accept her red envelopes and toys, even though, my parents didn’t want me to take them, knowing they came from her hard-earned savings. Remembering keeps them alive—within me. Perhaps that’s how traditions endure, how loved ones stay with us, and how we find the strength to move forward.
About Li Letitia Shen
Li Letitia Shen was born in Shanghai, China. She is an emerging artist based in Melbourne, recently completing her Bachelor of Fine Arts (Gold and Silversmithing) at the Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology. She was recently awarded the 2024 Vice-Chancellor’s List for Academic Excellence. Letitia is passionate about experimenting with craft methods such as silversmithing, enamelling, and lampworking to create innovative work. Her practice reflects her deep appreciation for traditional culture, kinship and cherished memories that resonate with her audience. Follow @letitiashenjewellery.
