EXHIBITION STATEMENT:
One Can of Coconut Milk spotlights a series of original artworks that explore the beauty of stillness imbued from objects found in Chinese supermarkets, how these items provide everyday nourishment, and the impact that they have on my multi-ethnic identity.
Where do I see myself on the shelves? As a Hainanese-Puerto Rican-Irish-New Yorker, my connection to pantry items often feels like a push and pull of proving myself and feeling right at home in this moment. Years ago, I started looking closely at the blocks of compacted cardboard boxes outside of NYC’s Hong Kong Supermarket, noticing the way so many different languages, colors, and textures were compressed into a new, beautiful form. Among other inspirations, I’m reminded of Martin Heidegger’s philosophy of Thingness, the playful mindset of the wandering nineteenth-century flâneur, and my recent years prioritizing therapy and mental health as I develop this body of work. I was fascinated by how imagery from different cultures bent, folded, and squished together into one peacefully solid structure.
Altogether, we celebrate the sensory signifiers of the Chinese supermarket—a place where I have always found relaxation and where I can simultaneously find nostalgic comfort in my Asianness and indulge in an outsider’s curiosity through my mixed background. Here, I can be around things that ask nothing of me except unbridled curiosity. There’s a shimmer that everything in a Chinese supermarket holds, just existing as is.
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A portion of all art sales will benefit the non-profit organization, @welcome.to.chinatown, and its 78 Mulberry Fire Emergency Fund that has raised over $30,000 USD in relief funds to cover basic necessities and lost wages for 78-80 Mulberry Street's residential and commercial tenants that were affected by the fire.
