2020

1.5’ x 10’

Charcoal, Conte, Paper, Moby Dick, and Sleep Deprivation

Just having read Moby Dick, I wanted to explore the mutual exploitation between nature and man. In expressive strokes, I depicted a tempestuous sea engulfing the tiny souls of men who dare challenge its all-consuming power.

2019

12” x 36”

Charcoal on paper

Based on a photo I took in Suzhou, the drawing done on a long paper scroll depicts an old lady selling vegetables on the side of the street. Gradually, the architecture of the quaint Chinese town—elegant black stone paths and whitewashed walls—distort into the dazzling highrises and pulsating neon lights of Times Square, a place I now pass by every day. The piece is a meditation on my multicultural upbringing, and a visual representation of my belief in reincarnation. The old lady is a symbol for the past while the crowds of Times Square are a representation of the stream of time and the rapidly changing present.

2020

4’ x 7’

Color Pencil, Watercolor, Charcoal, Acrylic Paint, Old T-shirt, Acetate Sheets

In this piece, I gathered patterns from each of my “homes”—American denim jeans, traditional fabric from Abuja, dragon-printed silk, cheongsam— and created a collage, a parallel to my own fragmented and multifaceted cultural identity. By adding multiple layers of acetate sheets on top of the drawings, I create a hazy atmosphere that reflects the ambiguity and enigma of my childhood memories.

2020

nine 24’’ x 16’’ canvases

Acrylic paint and oil on canvas

The clinical font and black background reduce each of my fears into merely an abstract series of letters—removing any emotional weight from them. They are now open to interpretation and imagination, making them even scarier as the viewer imbues them with personal significance. The central image, a traditional self-portrait done with chiaroscuro, is juxtaposed with the modern style of the text tiles, creating an eerie dissonance.

2020

24”x 18” without braids

Collage: Magazine Clippings and cut-up pieces of photographs of myself, newspaper

Tiny People: Wire and Air-Dry Clay

In Jonathan Swift’s Gulliver’s Travels, the titular Gulliver travels to Lilliput, where he encounters tiny people who are narrow-minded and xenophobic. Though he attempts to help the kingdom, his help is twisted by the citizens, who charge him with treason. Just like Gulliver, I often feel othered due to aspects of my identity. This piece is the embodiment of my alienation, paranoia, and desire to be accepted in my environment—tiny figures climb up my hair carrying torches, attacking me simply because I am different. The main figure is collaged using cut-up pieces of photos of myself, making the piece my self-portrait both figuratively and literally.

2020

3’ x 5’ x 1’

Cardboard and Disappointment

I used a religious form to portray the secular subject of hypocrisy in our society, in hopes of reducing large and ungraspable social issues to kitschy caricatures. The most humble material, cardboard, is most unfitting as the medium for a Christian triptych—it is absurd and trivializing, just like the way important problems are undermined by the media that only seeks to entertain (as opposed to inform) a desensitized audience. The ironic tone of the piece embodies the disillusionment I have felt in the past few months in response to current events.

2020

11” x 5”

Mirrors painted with acrylic

I subvert negative portrayals of Asian women by borrowing the characters from the opera Madama Butterfly by Puccini—the fetishistic fantasy of a man who had never been to Asia. The opera depicts a stereotypical submissive Asian woman who kills herself for the love of an unworthy white man who only takes advantage of her. In this piece, I explore the possibilities of power and desire by painting two racially and sexually ambiguous characters on two mirrors that reflect each other, one distinctly oriental and the other undeniably European, depicting a constant flip-flop between masculinity, femininity, Asianness, and whiteness. And by reflecting the viewer’s image back, I seek to provoke them to think about their own place in the narrative.

2019

Dimensions Variable

Wearable art: painted clay, wire, googly-eyes, rope

She spews venom and lies from her mouth, her hair thirsts to strangle you, while her numerous eyes follow you everywhere. This is a piece from a planned series of masks each depicting someone important in my life. This particular mask represents someone who was once dear to me. I see those around me as alter egos of myself as I project my desires and fears onto them. By making them into wearable masks, I literally become them and cease to be myself as I take on a new face.

2020

Dimensions Variable

Installation performance: charcoal animation projection, cardboard, paper, my body

Inspired by my experience as a third-culture kid, I show my life story through a kitschy performance. I pick up a new identity everywhere I go, adapting to local customs and learning a new language, represented by the rapid changing of clothes. My figure remains at the center of the video as my surroundings change rapidly in a seemingly endless cycle. Ultimately, the only constant in my life is change.