Work Sample #1

heavens have one sun; mortals have one way
天无二日，人无二理
Ewing Gallery of Art + Architecture,
University of Tennessee Knoxville
multimedia
sizes variable
2023

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This multimedia installation employs handmade papers and animations to remix ancient Chinese characters, appropriated instructional materials, and diagrammatic family portraits. Through this work, I re-enroll myself in my past education to re-consider and re-create what it means to be a child. The sign “child” is shared by the Chinese words in this work and conveys various meanings when combined with different signs. Ultimately, this work helped me process my adverse childhood experiences and gain perspective and sympathy for my parents. 

Work Sample #2

filial piety / “I gave you your life”
handmade paper, collage, and animation projection
sheet: 19.5 x 19.75 inches
video: 00:31 run time (looping)
provided video documentation (full): 00:37 min (please view in full)
2023

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This piece reflects on the notion of “filial piety,” which combines the Chinese Seal Script signs “old” above and “child” below. It exposes the “moral kidnapping” nature of the saying “I gave you your life,” which is often used by Chinese parents to demand their children's obedience. Implicitly, this work encourages an alternative interpretation: “You gave me my life, so you are responsible for my well-being.” 

Work Sample #3

to raise / to discard
handmade paper and animation projection
sheet: 23 x 15 inches
video: 04:39 run time (looping)
provided video documentation (excerpt): 01:00 min (please view in full)
2023

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This piece explores two interconnected Chinese Seal Script words: “to raise” and “to discard,” made of an upside-down “child” and “flesh” or "bamboo basket,” respectively. The physical “child” is made of paper. The animation beneath her mutates between the “flesh” and “bamboo basket.” Will she be nurtured or abandoned? The answer shifts constantly. 

Work Sample #4

female + child = good
handmade paper, hidden collage, and animation projection
diptych: 15 x 44 inches
video: 06:47 run time (looping)
provided video documentation (excerpt): 01:18 min (please view in full)
2023

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The Chinese character “good” combines the signs “female/girl” and “child/boy.” It originally meant “giving birth to a child is considered a good thing,” although it could also mean “it is good to have both a daughter and a son.” 

A Chinese proverb goes: “Hope one’s son to become a dragon; hope one’s daughter to become a phoenix.” In this piece, Clerical Script words “phoenix” and “dragon” overlay the Seal Script signs “female/girl” and “child/boy,” before transforming into children from Chinese textbooks. 

The animated Chinese children further morph into blubs of light, concentrating on select portions of the Seal Script signs. Looking closely at the illuminated area from the back, one would see hidden children sandwiched between layers of paper fiber—trapped in the expectation to be exceptional to repay their parents for the “gift of life.” 

Work Sample #5

Scene of the Crime
vinyl and animation projection
vinyl: 12 x 27.5 inches
video: 00:35 run time (looping)
provided video documentation (full): 00:32 min (please view in full)
2023

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Life is a precious gift to be grateful for, I was taught. Yet I witnessed—sometimes vicariously—how a child can be abandoned so easily, like a leaf blowing in the wind. Infant abandonment is not only an age-old cultural practice in China but is also present in several generations of my family.