Phua is fascinated by fountains, and their connection to ceramics through the element of water. She notes that a crucial step in the process of producing ceramic pieces is firing, which eliminates, from the finished product, the moisture that was used to render the raw material malleable. “I enjoy the fountain's ability to breathe life”, she remarks, “into the sculptural forms with their moving water. What’s interesting is that, in the process of making ceramics, water is a crucial medium, but upon completion, it is crucial to get rid of it. To introduce water back to the medium that once held itself together is a rather poetic reunion.” Here, the fountain assumes the form of a neon green birthday cake that reads “vile bile”, a reference to the narrative of the ancient Chinese king, Goujian. (See the series, I love working all day, every day.) The artist relates the moral of Goujian’s tale to a contemporary phenomenon: how things that are otherwise considered hardships have become sublimated into activities worthy of bragging rights – e.g. overworking, which have become a source of public pride for some on social media. The phrase “vile bile” suggests the enjoyment of something unpalatable, a transformation of Goujian’s self-inflicted suffering into a burden that contemporary society has embraced.