My work is primarily focusing on the critical theory of identity and individual social relationships, Including the idea of rhetorical self, narrative identity, and social otherness.

Under the current human being and human knowing condition—whatever we call it as “postmodern” or “poststructuralism”— the traditional theoretical concept of “Identity” as a self exists prior to the rest of the word" has been abandoned. Roots in such contemporary culture and theories background, my works, includes objects, video, performance and text, explore the idea of experience and narrative as an identity. 

 

Work Title: Fit In  /   着

This work combines media such as sculpture, video, and text. The made object and text is the theatrical rhetoric prop, which to specify a site for a series of movements.  Two mean elements in the work, clothing with the metal attachment and the chair with a hole, are both made by used objects. In the collaboration video, my own body is a vehicle to place the metal fragment in a hole on the chair.  So that I want to create a projection and symbolization of how the individual cope with our society.

 

-Used cloth/furniture

Every material has its association outside the exhibition place, and my work intends to constructing material’s logic sense into my concept.

Used cloth and furniture both have an intimate relationship with the body. When separated from the body, it can symbolize people’s presence and absence simultaneously. 

In this work, I put my body into someone else’s clothes, and play a gesture to fit in the used chair which already shaped by many unknown others. 

To adjust me into others, 

To experience other’s experience,

To overlapping others upon myself.

 

- Body /performance

The word “performance” fascinate me already. I always wonder, what is performance? 

We perform in each day life; we perform a “self” to the world. When everyone carries out certain molding actions to fit in a community, we sometimes call it “culture.” 

In the showing work, I make a series of body movements leading by the purpose of placing the metal parts into the holes on the chair. While discussing how our body be composed of a mirror and projector of the society, I also intended to describe the psychological state of we diluting the concept of “self” to fit in our surrounding.

 

- Poem

In my performance, writing is my stage.

To use text as a material is also a way to provoke an ineffable association in my artworks. 

The Chinese word “着” has three pronunciations,  and each one has a separated meaning. In the video, I continually play the sound of the word and its English interpretation, to metaphor the state of being as an individual.

 

- Metal

Coming from a jewelry background, I had a long time to think about metal—its making process and as well as its material philosophical meaning.

Metal is time-consuming, nothing quick, nothing light.

Metal making is a process of cultivation.

Metal is precious; something needs extra attention, caring.

I Spent hours and hours to form the metal cubes to fit the hole, to reflect the efforts we paid to match ourselves to the world.