Headlands Center for the Arts

Artist Statement

My artist and critical inquiry utilizes animation as a through line to create experimental, nonfiction films that explore concepts of escapism, loss of control, struggling to remain present, and our inability to communicate with one another. Drawing on autobiographical experiences, my process engages rules, repetition, trauma, and efforts to create a queer lens through which to view the world. While a moving image is loosely the goal of most projects, self-taught explorations in sculpture and object creation is an unconventional path to that goal. As a result, most projects end up with a film and sculptural objects, both providing the audience with uniquely specific information to shape the whole concept. Presently, I’m most interested in fabric/garment construction to shape a narrative around my own investigations into being “Chinese-American”.

While at Headlands

I want to create a 10-piece apparel collection based around a collective “Chinese American” identity. The 10 looks will aim to investigate and critically inquire how “Chinese American” one can be on a scale from 1-10 (10 being the most “ideal vision”). I look forward to being amongst the idyllic San Francisco backdrop, where I happened to also grow up, and its historical significance as a site for Hong Kong expatriates after the Immigration and Nationality Act of 1965. Geographically, I cannot imagine producing this work anywhere because my autobiographical experience of the Bay Area’s specific Chinese American cultural landscape is so integral to the project and I look forward to expanding my research into the city while in residence.