Through the traditional Chinese folk art of paper cutting, I explore the layered concepts of home, cultural heritage, and a sense of place.
In this series, I carve California poppy motifs and then carefully fold the paper to resemble window blinds, allowing the viewer to peek through the elaborate openwork designs. This creates a literal window into ideas of home--is home the dwelling itself, the physical space we inhabit? Or is it the histories, traditions, and nostalgic stories embedded in our cultural DNA that truly make a place a home?
For me as a Taiwanese-American, home exists in this interstitial space, somewhere between the tangible surroundings and the intangible threads connecting me to my ancestral heritage.
Through this process of cutting, folding, and layering, I invite viewers to engage with their own definitions of home. We all carry "blinds"--edges that shape how we view the world based on our backgrounds. By filtering the California landscape through a Chinese folk art lens, I encourage the audience to consider the role of cultural heritage, physical environment, and personal experiences in shaping their own definition of home.
Super Bloom, 2024
Super Bloom detail
