mem.oir explores the perpetual discovery of the self and sense of belonging as a Taiwanese-American navigating between two worlds.
Questions surrounding identity and memory are physically manifested through the conversation created by the plaster body, light & shadow, and words on the wall.
Who am I?
Where is home?
Where does memory and language live in the body?
The fragments of the body tells the story of fragmented memories - memories of intergenerational loss | trauma | settling | self-discovery | finding home - connected to each other by wire and suspended in time and space. Pieced together precariously to create a recognizable form. To what extent am I in control or just being manipulated like a marionette doll?
Like the blood in my veins, the places I call home are mapped onto my body - illuminating the way home.
The phrases and words on the wall are some thoughts that consistently run through my mind - things that have been said to me, things I wish I had said, and things I can only voice when no one is listening. Some words can only live in the shadows of my mind while others exist unapologetically in the light. Some words are said with care while others cut you like a knife - or maybe it’s both?
Two plaster bodies suspended in air by fishing wire projecting shadows onto the wall.
Shadows on the wall with various words/phrases placed throughout the wall.
"Where is home?" vinyl words against white background
Two plaster bodies suspended in air by fishing wire projecting shadows onto the wall.
mem.oir
Plaster, Wire, Vinyl
Colorado Springs, Colorado
2022
How can art come off the walls and into the gallery space...
inviting conversations to build communities?
How does your behavior change when you enter into gallery/museum spaces? Since I could form memories, I was constantly encouraged to be quiet and observe - to “take-in” - the art.. as an individual... a private experience. The interaction becomes one of consumption, a one way street, where the viewer takes from with the art they are seeing. Part of the mem.oir experience was to actively participate and engage with the work through creating a dialogue between the viewer and the object.
I held two gatherings where I read some of the poems and letters I wrote when thinking alongside the visual pieces. Through sharing my writing, I hoped to foster a safe and vulnerable space where people would feel comfortable sharing what they wrote as they engaged with the peice. Rather than only taking in the art, they in turn give back to the piece as well. All reflections were written on hand-made paper made from my old clothes and placed along the wall for public viewing.
What are we missing when we take out the discussion…
when we only engage with what’s in front of us?
To all the people constantly grappling with their own identit(y)ies and place in the world..
åŠ æ²¹~ you are not alone