Woke-Out

The boxing glove series

I explore questions of gender and race through objects and representations that carry evocative associations. Boxing gloves, though physically soft, traditionally connote force, violence and masculinity. Eggshells, while fragile, evoke shelter, nourishment and fertility.

Since 2016, I’ve been layering objects in eggshell veneer. My eggshell-based work has arisen from formal experimentation and latent exposure to sơn mài lacquer ware, an often-overlooked traditional craft related to my cultural heritage.

Off White, 2019. Boxing gloves, eggshells, acrylic, 18" 13" x 5"

Mint Museum of Art permanent collection

Boom Boom Butterfly, 2019. Boxing gloves, eggshells, acrylic, 18" 13" x 5"

In Vietnamese, bươm bướm means butterfly. In English, the word “boom” describes a thunderous impact. In the context of boxing, those two meanings connect through the famous words of Muhammad Ali: “Float like a butterfly, sting like a bee.” Ali was not only an extraordinary boxer, but also a conscientious objector to the Vietnam War. He fought hard inside the ring and beyond it. By covering the boxing gloves in eggshells, I wanted to introduce additional tensions and layers of possible meaning. Furthermore, in certain Vietnam war movies the words “boom boom” appear as a slang term for a white man’s desire to have sex with a Vietnamese woman – an exoticizing utterance within the broader history of fetishizing Asian women. All these layers of meaning and code-shifting inhere in the artwork.

Killing Me Softly, 2017. Boxing gloves, eggshells, acrylic, 14"x 13" x 5"

Acquired by private collector

Freedom Fighter, 2018. Boxing gloves, hand embroideryeggshells, acrylic, 18"x 13" x 5"

Acquired by the Bechtler family private collection

The series probes our changing, and at times volatile, cultural consciousness on several levels—foremost through a set of tensions. I glued eggshells on boxing gloves, and brought them together with politically-resonant embroideries. Boxing gloves, though physically soft, traditionally bear connotations of force, violence and masculinity. Needlework, by contrast, is traditionally associated with femininity and delicateness, though its main tool is sharp and piercing.

Many widely-understood questions are asked, but I provide no concrete answers—just dives, stabs and punches.