Untitled

My current project is an ongoing series of self-portraits that plays with how my identities as a chronically ill, femme, sexual, Chinese American person are blurred, dragged, changed, and informed through viewers’ interpretation. By including objects such as a 雙喜 ginger jar and my Chinese seal, I uncover how my body’s appearance in its barest form can be modified by these signifiers. I pose and shape my body to create dialogue between myself and these objects–sometimes in acts of defiance, other times in postures of tenderness–as a mode to convey how many notions of care can be true at once. I give myself constraints that are inherent to the process of large format photography, which enables me to learn how to manipulate my body in an act of performance. With these photographs, I strive to document this performance of parsing through my internal experiences while encouraging viewers to question stereotypical aspects of identity tied to outward appearances.