January 6th - February 28th 2025
Red Lodge Clay Center, Montana, USA
Inspired by the austerity of winter here in Red Lodge, I hope to capture moments of this ephemeral season in a series of sculptural works. While shifting from my production methods to a slower, more contemplative pace, I’m excited by the beauty and solitude of this time and landscape. Exploring various methods of sculpting and surface decoration my work aims to spark the imagination and escapism through personal narratives.
While taking this time here at Red Lodge to experiment, I also have the opportunity to fire their atmospheric kilns. Using the cross-draft soda and wood train kiln I am excited to see what kind of surfaces these processes can impart on my work.
During my artist residency I am focused on exploring the complexities and intersectionality of my identity, the immigrant culture of Chinese Canadians, the southeast Asian diaspora of Singapore and Malaysia, and my paternal Ukrainian heritage. Through sculpting and surface decoration my work acts as a form of escapism inspired by my personal narratives. I am frequently denied parts of my identity, as an act of reclamation I work to challenge the public’s perception of validity. I oppose the idea that because I’m visibly a person of color I am less legitimate as Ukrainian, Canadian or White. I proudly identify as not halves of cultures but a whole, entirely mixed identity.
I use my lived experience as a source of inspiration, filling the voids I felt in childhood where my identity felt overlooked. There is a lack of genuine, nuanced representation of mixed-identities in fantasy. While reimagining fantasy genre aesthetics to be more inclusive, my personal experience of childhood trauma led me to the hero’s journey as a form of escapism and a way of avoiding my reality. In high fantasy, the binary metaphors for good and evil are disappointingly flat and default into stereotypical East versus West tropes. I hope to build a sense of belonging to these fantasy realms for those who have been typically othered and exoticized. Enmeshing my childhood imagination and narratives to immerse myself in a world resembling my experience as a third-culture kid. Creating work that sparks the imagination for people of color and mixed identity to enjoy and relish in, without seeing aspects of their culture exploited.
Photos by Rachael Jones at RLCC