DP. EDITOR. VISUAL ARTIST.
little streetviews (2023)
two-channel audio-visual interactive installation. two projectors, 7 yds of sheer crushed voile fabric, audio, speakers, wired headphones, sculpture, H2O projector.
audio/video on a 3-minute loop
dimensions variable.
A silent figure walks through the busy streets of a frozen 2004 Fuling, China. Accompanied by industrial acoustics, the figure weaves about city walkers and accompanies nearby workers about their day. The video is dissected into looped segments and projected onto 16 sheets of sheer fabric hung from the ceiling, circling two sleeping lion dancer marionette puppets in a woven basket.
documentation video coming soon
ARTIST STATEMENT
My parents came to Fuling, China, to adopt me in 2004. My connection to the land is through my parents and the pixeled residue from their photos. I was mesmerized by the idea of how to materialize memory into something, especially a memory that doesn't really exist. The piece explores details of cultural dissonance and grief conceived from an international adoption and multicultural upbringing.
Fuling and other parts of Chongqing are intermixed. The construction track alludes to the Three Gorges Dam Project (1994-2006), which displaced villages along the riverside and created more abandoned babies. Nearby headphones play ambiance of imagined local life. In the center lie two lion dancer marionette puppets asleep in a woven basket -- unscathed by the impending industrialization. I imagine this as my sister and me.
displayed at the UCLA Arts Undergraduate exhibition "A New Gain." Ran from December 5 to December 11 in the Broad Art Center.
a very special thanks to my mother, my father, my sister, Mar Kourouma, Marco Rios, and Owen Kydd -- the project could not have been created without your unwavering support.