cardboard, acrylic paint, acrylic marker, colored pencil, maps of USA, magazine, lazy susan
9” x 12” x 12”
The Immigration Zoetrope translates processes of cultural assimilation and syncretism into visual elements. The interior of the hollow cylinder shows an animation of two different shapes combining and creating something new. This portrays cultural syncretism, when two cultures interact and form a new, distinct culture. The exterior of the zoetrope consists of layered collage, with various colored dots dispersed, the dots representing distinct cultures present in America. I used maps and pictures depicting American life (American football, picnics) to clearly establish the setting of the processes that I illustrated. As the zoetrope is spun, the exterior colored dots all blur into the same red as the background, showing the encompassing and erasing nature of assimilation in America. The cardboard mechanism itself is a representation of time, and as it is spun clockwise, the animation, and thus the processes, can occur correctly.
acrylic marker, acrylic paint, watercolor, gelli print
9” x 12”
With this piece, I challenged myself to imitate the feeling of loss of memory with design choices. The result was an abstracted calendar, split into the four stages of life: infantile, childhood/teenage, adulthood, and seniority. I experimented with mixed media, using a fluid watercolor shape to represent a person’s mind, and contrasting it with a solid background of acrylic paint. As the calendar progresses through its stages in time, the “mind” form changes shape and colors accordingly. The first page has bright, saturated colors to show the livelihood and curiosity of a child. In contrast, the last page has a thinner, paler shape to show the lesser capacity of an older person to hold memories. This process of decay aligns with the decay of culture. As a person grows older, the customs they can preserve while being far from a place of origin are only those which they remember. Thus, as memory deteriorates, so can culture.
foamcore, maps of USA, colored pencil, acrylic paint
9” x 8” x 3.5”
Where can evidence of cultural intersections in America be found? My (Our) House is a distorted recreation of my own home and room, where I see the convergence of the Japanese, Vietnamese, and American aspects of my life represented in food, objects, decorations, and hobbies. My favorite details in this interactive model are the spaghetti eaten with chopsticks, a picture of my brother and I celebrating Halloween, Chinese good luck decorations, and stuffed animals I cherished as a child.
clay, underglaze
2” x 7” x 7”
Natural Process responds to the idea that the immigrant population in America is one of the main causes of its downfall. Many encourage mass deportation of America’s immigrant population, but they fail to realize that all aspects of the country depend on immigrants; the foundation of the country itself was built by this population. The bowl, representing America, is detailed with amorphous shapes of different sizes and colors. The constant interaction between diverse cultures results in individuals with complex cultural backgrounds, hence each shape comprising multiple colors. The bowl requires interaction for the concept to be demonstrated as intended. As the three marbles, figuratively three distinct cultures, enter the bowl, gravity situates them in the center. Immigrants, when entering the country, are naturally integrated into the complex cultural landscape. The only way for the marbles, the cultures, to exit the bowl is to tip the bowl on its side and push them out through the holes. When immigrants are forcibly removed from the country, the balance of the country is completely disrupted.