In his films, sculptures, and videos, David Zink Yi explores the relationship between collective and individual identity. The Peru-born, Berlin-based artist, who participated in the 2013 Venice Biennale, is particularly interested in Afro-Caribbean cultures, and he examines musical traditions and cultural mythologies in his art. Giant squid—a deep-sea-dwelling animal rarely seen alive by humans—are a recurring motif in Zink Yi’s work, and perhaps act as a metaphor for his practice. He creates ceramic squid sculptures surrounded by inky puddles made from a syrup compound. With this amorphous, deflated-looking creature, Zink Yi creates a connection between the grotesque, the alien, and the organic, and raises questions about how we interact with unfamiliar cultural forces. “What I enjoy is this kind of alchemical situation in converting this garbage of nature, which is a huge metaphor for many things,” the artist has said.