artist statement
For some reason, I have always compartmentalized my identity; perhaps it has to do with the displacement of my upbringing. Five days before my twelfth birthday, I lost my older brother to leukemia, and grief and I became inseparable. And perhaps that’s when my hypersensitivity began — to the perils of our curated circles and the carelessness of words and actions — so my tendency was to stay silent. Because the last thing I’d want is to contribute to unthought out clutter that can easily accumulate and hurt. But at the same time, why remain quiet, when there is still so much to say, even if it’s only a whisper.
I started classical piano at age four and wrote poems and painted on construction paper, never realizing it needed to go anywhere, but retrospectively observing how my Faith interacted with my grief, turned into a desire to express and write hypersoft compositions, especially amidst the growing concerns for noise pollution, and the lost art and skill of hearing and listening. Shifting from the performative to the reflective informs a lot of my current works that address reconciliation of self to human/other/technology and a pivot to examine sustainability/accountability of art practices. I stumbled upon digital/new media art that allowed a minimality and nimbleness I sought after, and began gathering my texts, sound and video sketches to create site-specific installations when requested; rooted in my literary influences, Oswald Chambers and C.S. Lewis, the works are often structured in (three) movements, deconstructed and/or played/exhibited in isolation or in mashed up remixes and/or improvisation. My most recent research and ongoing thesis project “Horizontal Sowing” proposes the “act of kindness as (non)performance art” — what to (un)pack and discern on the unruly path, navigation and reconstructing rules or regulations, specifically in the emerging technologies regarding ethics, privacy and cultural (mis)appropriation and how to use creative expressions and cultural dissonance to find harmony and healing within micro and macro systems. In the era of tumult and turmoil, loss of privacy through digitalized (over)documentation and over-saturation of “design thinking,” and under-utilized “thinking thinking,” is “art thinking” a form of practicing compassion and healing for the displaced and the only act of remembering? [prayer hand emoji]
I started classical piano at age four and wrote poems and painted on construction paper, never realizing it needed to go anywhere, but retrospectively observing how my Faith interacted with my grief, turned into a desire to express and write hypersoft compositions, especially amidst the growing concerns for noise pollution, and the lost art and skill of hearing and listening. Shifting from the performative to the reflective informs a lot of my current works that address reconciliation of self to human/other/technology and a pivot to examine sustainability/accountability of art practices. I stumbled upon digital/new media art that allowed a minimality and nimbleness I sought after, and began gathering my texts, sound and video sketches to create site-specific installations when requested; rooted in my literary influences, Oswald Chambers and C.S. Lewis, the works are often structured in (three) movements, deconstructed and/or played/exhibited in isolation or in mashed up remixes and/or improvisation. My most recent research and ongoing thesis project “Horizontal Sowing” proposes the “act of kindness as (non)performance art” — what to (un)pack and discern on the unruly path, navigation and reconstructing rules or regulations, specifically in the emerging technologies regarding ethics, privacy and cultural (mis)appropriation and how to use creative expressions and cultural dissonance to find harmony and healing within micro and macro systems. In the era of tumult and turmoil, loss of privacy through digitalized (over)documentation and over-saturation of “design thinking,” and under-utilized “thinking thinking,” is “art thinking” a form of practicing compassion and healing for the displaced and the only act of remembering? [prayer hand emoji]