OPEN FLOWERS BEAR FRUIT
(Asian American Still Life, 2020–ongoing)
The Eurocentric tradition of still life has a long history of appropriating elements from cultures that it considered "exotic" while maintaining authoritative artistic dominance on the practice. In response, Open Flowers Bear Fruit (Asian American Still Life) is an on-going project that claims space in this venerated tradition for Asian American cultural experiences, directly from an Asian American perspective. The project creates an overdue dialogue between the symbology of Eurocentric still life with that of Asian diaspora traditions. On a personal level, the series features home comfort foods from my upbringing as a Taiwanese-Chinese American—foods that are derided as "strange" in the U.S. but hold quotidian significance in Chinese culture. At the same time, the series questions the ideals of the nostalgic "All-American" experience as a daughter of immigrants, asking to what extent immigrant experiences can dovetail with notions of Americanness. On a community level, I partner with Asian American small business owners throughout the series, foregrounding their food practices that make up the now multicultural culinary landscape that pervades California. These partnerships have allowed me to present perspectives and lived experiences from the numerous cultures that feed the otherwise monolithic label of "Asian American."
2020, 20x24", archival pigment print on bamboo paper
This work was inspired by Mayly Tao, second generation Cambodian American and purveyor of incredibly joyful rings of fried dough (via her family's donut shop, DK's Donuts & Bakery). I wanted to combine the exuberance of eating a donut with that of Brueghel's bursting florals, as an homage to cross-sensory experiences that make us happy.
2020, 24x16", archival pigment print on bamboo paper
The Midautumn Festival celebrates harvest, longevity, and friends and family. Created in the middle of 2020 and six months into quarantine, this piece examines the midautumn themes through the lens of a year marked by separation, loss, and grief. The folk history of mooncakes, gifted and eaten during the festival, notes their crucial role in overthrowing the Mongul occupation: may they continue to remind us of the power of grassroots protest.
2022, 30x40", archival pigment print on bamboo paper
A celebration of lucky fruit, daily life, the new year, and a classic nature morte reminder of mortality. The mandarins are kishus, a varietal transplated to the US from Japan in the 1980s. The pomelo-looking citrus are oro blancos, which were bred in Southern California from a cross between pomelos (which have a long history in SE and E Asia for new years’ celebrations) and white grapefruit. The non-traditional oro blancos are here as a symbol of the continued development and remixing of Asian diaspora experiences.
2021, 29x38", archival pigment print on bamboo paper
A collaboration with ceramicist Raina Lee, in which we bond over our love of Taiwanese pineapple buns and have a conversation with Van Gogh's Japanese woodblock print influences. Ceramic vase by Raina Lee; sunflowers from Tanaka Farms; pineapple bao from 85C Bakery (Los Angeles, CA).
2021, 16x24" and 28x42", archival pigment print on bamboo paper
2020, 13x17", archival pigment print on bamboo paper
Persimmons were my dad's favorite fruit, but one not so commonly seen in suburban American markets during my childhood. So my dad would order a giant box directly from a grower each year, and keep them in our unused brick chimney to eat over the course of several weeks.
2021, 16x24", archival pigment print on bamboo paper
Watermelons were another of my dad's favorite fruits. After dinner during the summers, he would pull a giant watermelon out of the fridge and proceed to expertly carve it into cubes that were too large for anyone's mouth but his. My mom and I would watch him fill up the special watermelon tupperware bucket, while complaining vocally about the size of the cubes and cracking open spiced watermelon seeds, which my dad despised.
2022, looping video
A homage to the home altars to ancestors or the gods that I grew up with, ubiquitous in nearly every house I visited with my parents, including our own. The altars always featured a neat pile of fruit and some variable combination of smiling black and white photos or uber-colorful Buddhist prints. On certain days, you might offer money or precious goods; on other days, you'd offer flowers—but always with the thorns meticulously cut off lest an ancestor cut their finger when they reached to accept the offerings. Ceramics by Eunbi Cho (Los Angeles, CA). [This piece was made as part of a commission for the Los Angeles Times.]
2021, 24x30", archival pigment print on bamboo paper
This work features treats from Ube Area, in San Francisco Bay Area. The team at Ube Area takes inspiration from all-American kids' treats like Pop Tarts and Rice Krispies and remixes them using classic Southeast Asian flavors like ube and calamansi lime.
2022, 50x40", archival pigment print on bamboo paper
The flowers here were saved and dried from other pieces through the series for 2 years, and placed alongside persimmons scavenged from a neighborhood in Hollywood, hand-massaged hoshigaki, and a Terada family heirloom vase from imperial Japan. (vase courtesy of Andi Terada and family)
