Blue and white porcelain was made in China in the 13th century, about four centuries before Europeans figured out how to make similar dishes. So it makes sense that a Chinese artist exploring old building and kiln sites in China would find a lot of broken shards of blue and white china.

What to do with all those broken pieces? Beijing artist Li Xiaofeng (b. 1965) has built a career around creating “wearable” art using blue and white Chinese porcelain shards. But while his shirts and dresses can indeed be donned by real people, they are more often displayed as sculptures. The one pictured here dates from 2009.

According to the director of Beijing’s Red Gate Gallery, many young Chinese artists, like Li, “are seeking to rediscover their history, to rework elements of it and to lay out their vision of where the richness of this history is woven into the frazzled fabric of contemporary China.”

The photo is courtesy of Red Gate Gallery, RedGateGallery.com. Click on the artist link there to learn more about Li Xiaofeng.