Books

This essay reflects on the history of structures that divide humans from the landscape and each other. It investigates the physical experiences of disconnection as well as the associated language and stories that shape a relationship to the environment. Research of social sculpture, disengagement and late wave environmental artists are the tools used to support a deeper investigation of the legacy of Johnny Appleseed. The work includes the process of beginning of 50 apple seedlings, sprouted and nurtured in the studio, and a participatory gallery installation of narratives that draw attention to land use, ownership and the migratory nature of both plants and humans. A composition of sculpture, book and interaction highlights aspects of this relationship that might go unnoticed but have profound consequences on our culture.

Born and raised in Taiwan, a small island country that has been colonized multiple times, my generation is called a 'rootless generation,' because of the lack of cultural and national identity. As an English-as-a-second-language speaker and an international student, the 'rootless' feeling has grown stronger with the time, as I stay in the States. As a narrative illustrator, I express my thoughts, my feelings and understandings of the surroundings I live in through my illustrated stories. Therefore, with the feeling, I began to consider that the starting point of my work should not be just about my perception of the world; it should be about me, the person who I am, so that I have a comprehension of this sort of person in general. I started to purse and investigate my personal identity through my work. After some earlier projects, I decided to keep working on the theme of personal identity and go deeper. My MFA thesis project, From Dusk to Dawn/From Dawn to Dusk, points to the direction that indicates the fundamental question: "What makes a person a person?" The project can be divided into three parts: an illustrated book, an installation and a performance. These three parts are tightly bound together to form a piece, presenting my concept and providing my own answer to the question I proposed.

In the same ways that our society has been built up from the layering and merging of systems, Recordings 4 is a construct of a slightly different reality. Fixed in a state both familiar and absurd, the performances in the Minneapolis and St. Paul Skyways and gallery installation test the assumptions and conventions of viewers. The process of formalizing the line is observed in the installation as the paper is folded and bound into volumes, defining it as data and inviting viewers to decipher meaning from its apparent unintelligibility. The work provokes engagement between individuals and the work itself. By shifting perceptions towards the peculiarities in our environment Recordings 4 creates opportunities to ask questions and learn when our assumptions are wrong. Recordings 4 draws from the history of experiments in arts and sciences to investigate systems and the communities that rely on them. Through a variety of media, and the display of processes and relations between them, the assorted elements presented in Recordings 4 use our familiarity with objects and conventions as the basis for creating an environment that subtly upsets the viewer's expectations of usefulness while encouraging questions regarding systems that construct modern society.