+ Steel, nylon thread, Good Luck candies / 2023
+ Installed at ArtsWestchester Gallery
+ Commissioned by ArtsWestchester
Referencing the chandeliers of traditional Chinatown dim sum parlors, LUCKY ILLUMINATION is a suspended sculpture composed of metallic-wrapped Good Luck candies. This architectural fixture is created from candies given out often in Chinese culture to commemorate life events and new beginnings; sweets to usher in joy for a new lunar year, sweets as consolation to follow the bitterness of death at a funeral.
Since the start of the pandemic, Chinatown communities across North America have been disproportionately impacted by anti-Asian rhetoric and violence. Chinatowns are shrinking, as residents and longtime businesses – cavernous Cantonese banquet halls amongst them – are forced out by gentrification and rising rents. These parlors have been at the core of family and social gatherings for decades. Within family associations, elders are passing away. A crucial part of our Chinatown history is disappearing.
+ Installed at ArtsWestchester Gallery
+ Commissioned by ArtsWestchester
Referencing the chandeliers of traditional Chinatown dim sum parlors, LUCKY ILLUMINATION is a suspended sculpture composed of metallic-wrapped Good Luck candies. This architectural fixture is created from candies given out often in Chinese culture to commemorate life events and new beginnings; sweets to usher in joy for a new lunar year, sweets as consolation to follow the bitterness of death at a funeral.
Since the start of the pandemic, Chinatown communities across North America have been disproportionately impacted by anti-Asian rhetoric and violence. Chinatowns are shrinking, as residents and longtime businesses – cavernous Cantonese banquet halls amongst them – are forced out by gentrification and rising rents. These parlors have been at the core of family and social gatherings for decades. Within family associations, elders are passing away. A crucial part of our Chinatown history is disappearing.