Film still of Rifting, 2023
Single-channel video 5:30mins loop
Film still of Rifting, 2023
Single-channel video 5:30mins loop
Film still of Rifting, 2023
Single-channel video 5:30mins loop
Installation view of Faulting, 2023
24 Acupuncture needles supporting Crayola ® Colors of the World Crayons
Dimension variable
Installation view of Faulting, 2023
24 Acupuncture needles supporting Crayola ® Colors of the World Crayons
Dimension variable
Installation view of Rifting, Faulting and Liner notes
Understanding Values (Rose, Almond, and Gold), Ongoing
My ongoing research project, Understanding Values (Rose, Almond, and Gold), centers around the Crayola Colors of the World product. I delve into the relationship between consumerism and issues of racial and ethnic identity in the United States. Through an examination of the history of Crayola crayons, I analyze the expansion of neoliberalism in racial politics and scrutinize the company's marketing strategies and commercial language. Simultaneously, as I transitioned from being part of the majority ethnic group in Asia to a minority in the U.S., I confronted my own privilege while navigating my Taiwanese identity in both Western and Eastern cultures. This process of learning and understanding has been crucial to my research.
Following the different phases of crayons, my artworks Rifting, Faulting, and Liner Notes aim to challenge the pervasive nature of recognition and explore the autonomy of definition. Rifting focuses on the liquid and ever-changing phase. By employing kitchen appliances, I transform the crayons, subjecting them to the Buddhist concept of hell, ultimately expanding and challenging their objecthood. Faulting takes inspiration from the Lincoln Detox Center, run by the Black Panthers Party, which provided free acupuncture for detoxifying drug addiction. This artwork explores the reconciliation of distance between two extremes, where the space between each needle on a large white wall can only be measured by attentive listening—the distance between two ears. Liner Notes attempts to encapsulate the invisible but pervasive thoughts that fill our environment. Who possesses the power to define labels? How do those labels influence our thoughts and recognition? What is the relationship between language and the object it refers to? Perhaps the answers to these questions are an eternal love song resonating within my heart, and they are all recorded in my lyrical essays.
Liner Notes is available upon request.