Treat Yourself

In the wake of the horrors of the Atlanta Spa Shootings and the deaths of 39 Vietnamese human-trafficking victims inside a transport lorry in the UK, the nation and world was confronted by a series of difficult conversations of class and racialized gender violence against Asian women. 

The mixed media installation is a juxtaposition between humility and the divine. Cheap plastic beads pour out of spigots into shiny golden basins. In contrast, a grey decal of a salon worker is attached to the wall and her shadow spills onto the floor. The kneeling figure is ghostly but present and ready to perform an intimate service of cleaning and massaging feet of the next stranger.  I am reminded of a less transactional image of Christ washing the feet of his disciples. Juxtaposed with the decal is a draped towel printed with a close up of Jesus’ hands washing feet of his diciples at the Last Supper. His message: “Love one another. As I have loved you.”

Treat Yourself

UNSETTLED PROVISIONS solo exhibition, installation view at Ogden Contemporary Arts, Utah, 2023

Treat Yourself

MIXED BLESSINGS, solo exhibition, installation at Elder Gallery of Contemporary Art, Charlotte, NC, 2022