Soy sauce for dimmies
Acrylic on ceramic
45cm x 35cm x 25cm
2019

My first job was at a Fish’n’Chip shop, where after school, from ages 14 to 16, I worked part-time taking phone orders, folding boxes, giving out bonus potato cakes and putting soy sauce on dimmies.

Most dim sim eaters were happy to just say “yes please” or “no thanks” when asked if they’d like soy sauce, others however were much more specific. “Just a drop”. “Just a drizzle”.  “Yeah drown them in it, mate”. “Can I get my soy sauce in a separate ziplock bag?” The more specific the order the more joy I took in getting it right.

15 years later and I’m still making dim sims, only now I’m making them out of clay. Rather than steaming or frying the dimmies I’m now kiln firing them, and instead of coating them in soy sauce I’m painting them in glaze. Soy Sauce for Dimmies uses humour and sentimentality to playfully encourage us to celebrate the simple things. Or perhaps I should say, the dim-simple things.

This piece was a finalist in the 2019 Manningham Ceramics Small Sculpture Award, and the 2019 Woollahra Small Sculpture Award.