Valentines
2020 to current (Ongoing Project)
Cochineal and inkjet prints on rice paper, faux fur dyed with cochineal, stickers, mylar and rhinestones (varies).
Sizes range: 7.5 x 4 inches to 16 x 15 inches
A series of small modular, paper-based pieces dyed to bright red with cochineal. They are visually reminiscent of both the chun lian paper I would often see at Lunar New Year while living in China, as well as the western tradition of giving small decorative cards to loved ones in February. They are a response to the unique experience I found myself in after returning to the United States in 2019. The COVID-19 germination and subsequent wave was at once both very close and very far. The disjoint resulting from watching scenes familiar to me in China being presented as the alien on American news media, and direct personal communication with family and friends still within the PRC, saturated the already present cultural adjustment due to repatriation. As infection wanes 6,000 miles away and waxes in the here and now, the inversion of the familiar with the foreign, and the old with the new becomes even more pronounced. Valentines are memorials of and gifts to these interceding transitions. Components have been exhibited virtually in Shanghai in 2020 and at the Fort Worth Community Art Center in 2021 and will be at the Greater Denton Arts Council in 2022.
Photograph by Stephanie Gerhart, 2021
Photograph by Stephanie Gerhart, 2021
