Introduction : Ink Sculptures 2017 - present
I make my own ink for sculpture that I developed from applying methods that make traditional Chinese ink sticks. It is a method that dates back to 12th century B.C. Using an ancient craft in my experimental practice offers me a contemporary language that is my own.
My work seeks to reconcile with and dismantle problematic tropes concerning the female image. As a Queens, NY-born child of a Taiwanese mother and Indonesian-Chinese father, I’ve been exposed to a rich culture in my home, my city, and in my world travels. I make use of both of these themes in my work, my womanhood and the Asian-American and person-of-color diaspora. I am motivated by self-discovery and self-mythologizing; I create narratives that conjure impressions of ancient past, belonging, migration, desire, and the fluid and often fraught conditions of our time. In 2015 I used a traditional Chinese ink stick for a site-specific performance/installation in Shanghai. I went on to learn Chinese ink-making techniques to explore its potential. The medium is animal-based - organic - and therefore is impermanent and transformative. Over seven years I developed my own ink for sculpture, applying these traditional methods and characteristics.
That my ink is of my heritage and transformative is a fundamental principle and is building a language that represents me.
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