Solo show: 欣欣向荣 𝕱𝖑𝖔𝖚𝖗𝖎𝖘𝖍
15 December 2024–8 February 2025
Website: https://lacphoto.org/exhibition/flourish-the-aline-smithson-next-generation-award/
Los Angeles Center of Photography
“LACP is thrilled to announce a solo exhibition by Stephanie Shih, the first winner of the Aline Smithson Next Generation Award.
FLOURISH explores Shih’s work in the last five years, seeking to articulate central themes and approaches. The exhibition offers a cacophonous celebration of the complexities of Asian-American and immigrant experiences. Shih’s exhibition space refuses the surgically-clean white cube, by (re)introducing color, beauty, emotion, imperfection, and the narratives of culturally othered communities. So often the cultural and personal traumas of these communities are diminished in institutional spaces. Shih responds instead–often with collaborators from the AAPI community–with an unbridled maximalism dedicated to Asian diasporic presence and excellence, understanding at the same time that joy goes hand in hand with the messy multiplicities of human narratives.”
exhibition
flourish
My work for my forthcoming solo exhibition,欣欣向荣 𝕱𝖑𝖔𝖚𝖗𝖎𝖘𝖍, at Los Angeles Center of Photography is featured this week on Lenscratch in an interview with Aline Smithson.
Aline writes: “I’m not sure when I first met Stephanie Shih and her exquisite work, but I was immediately drawn to her practice that uses the genre of the still life to tell stories and explore personal and historical legacies with cultural references, beauty and humor. The tableaux are more than a collection of objects, arranged and shot with beautiful light. They are each layered stories that echo past and present histories. There is a freshness to her constructions that allows for a new consideration of how objects inform the viewer.”
press
flourish
Solo show: LONG TIME NO SEE 好久不見
28 August 2024–7 June 2024
Website and catalogue: museums.wlu.edu/shih
Exhibition companion: longtimenosee.art
Reeves Museum of Ceramics
Museums at Washington & Lee University
“Stephanie Shih: LONG TIME NO SEE (好久不見) invites visitors to explore each gallery space within the Reeves Museum of Ceramics, offering an immersive exploration of hidden narratives and voices within the Museums at W&L’s nationally renowned Reeves Collection of Chinese Export Porcelain. Through 15 life-size photography and video-based still life installations, photographer and inaugural artist-in-residence Stephanie Shih unveils nuanced insights into themes of commerce, labor, imperialism, and identity. Seamlessly blending still life traditions with Asian American perspectives, Shih juxtaposes altered still life photographs with ceramics drawn from the Reeves Collection, creating a dynamic interplay between the tangible and the photographic. Shih’s work reimagines these coveted ceramics as vessels of diasporic history, prompting reflection on belonging, migration, and cultural identity in the United States. Shih’s thought-provoking series encourages visitors to consider the complexities of possession, desire, and cultural heritage.
The exhibition was organized and conceptualized by Isra El-Beshir (Director of Art Museum and Galleries) and Stephanie Shih, in collaboration with Nalleli Guillen (Associate Director of Curatorial Affairs), Elizabeth Spear (former Curator of Academic Engagement), and curatorial consultants Jacqueline Chao (Cecil and Ida Green Curator of Asian Art at the Dallas Museum of Art), Rachel Du (specialist in Chinese art and history), and Kelly Fu (Stanford University PhD candidate in early modern Chinese global history).
The exhibition is made possible through the support of the Terra Foundation for American Art, the Reeves Endowment, and the Museum Art Fund.” –Museums at W&L
exhibition
long-time-no-see
3C Gallery Group show: Visons Unfold: AAPI Arts in Focus
Tryst Art Fair at Torrance Art Museum, 23-25 August 2024
SubTerra Gallery at the Makery, 31 August–29 September 2024
For more information
About the exhibition: “The theme of this collective exhibit is Visions Unfold: AAPI Arts in Focus, dedicated to showcasing AAPI (Asian American & Pacific Islander) photographic artists.
Our collection features unique, dynamic, and groundbreaking mediums and styles, with works inspired by Asian traditions and others influenced by western culture, creating a rich blend of both or singular artistry. The exhibit explores how different cultural elements within AAPI arts converge to create innovative forms of expression, reflecting the complexity and richness of AAPI identities and experiences.”
exhibition
New commissioned work for Fly By Jing x Our Place’s 2024 Lunar New Year collaboration.
Photography and prop styling: Stephanie Shih
Food stylist: Tyna Hoang
Digi/1st assist: Matt Harbicht
2nd assist: Jordan Dragojlovic
And here’s one of my concept sketches for the large still life scene:
commissioned
food
still-life