Learning to speak, stakes of refusal

(The future needs new plans series)
paper sculpture with tar paper, foreclosure counseling documents, recycled office supplies, metallic paper, paper thread, paper pulp shaped in mouth while reading model minority mutiny discussion questions, and acrylic paint with burnt paper ash
14 x 4.5 x 4″
2016

The future needs new plans is a series of talismanic paper sculptures honoring the community histories and spaces that surround and intersect my life and work. Each piece weaves together found paper materials marked with traces of their past uses, prints of archival photographs, and cut paper imagery. The objects and the accreted layers of material reference historic sociopolitical movements, moments of cross cultural solidarity, and current community struggles (including moments where past coalitions have faltered). These are wayfinding devices of a sort, objects that focus and call upon the intersection of geographic space and collective action; that look to the past to move us forward.

The specific material references in the work include prints from archival photographs of 60s & 70s cross-racial solidarity protests (“Yellow Peril supports Black Power”) and Third World Liberation movements; toner transfers prints of recent planning department hearing notifications and no trespassing appeals for police enforcement; cut paper drawings referencing Asian American men involved in police violence against black communities and misogynistic-fueled spree shootings; and cut text messages about allyship and righteous action. Resembling ritual tools, the objects also reference gathering, pushing away, binding, splitting, and healing. By layering this mixture of past and future, just and unjust, and the personal and collective, I hope to imbue these talismans with the suggestion of apotropaic qualities that speak to the current moment.

(Special thanks for the support in developing this series to Ox-Bow School of Art & Artists’ Residency Program, Kala Art Institute’s Fellowship Residency Program and Melissa Wyman and the Sedona Summer Colony residency.)

Exhibition history:
The future needs new plans, Patricia Sweetow Gallery (2017)
The City Breathing, Kimball Gallery, deYoung Museum (during Studio Artist residency) (2017)