Exhibitions I Can’t Go On, I’ll Go On, 2025

I am interested in affective encounters with commonplace images and objects, linking perception and emotion. Yellow addresses an Asian cultural narrative that valorizes stoically enduring hardship or 吃苦 (eating bitterness). With a nod to Félix Gonzaléz-Torres, it also connects candy and grief, in this case through the color yellow. While yellow is highly esteemed in China, it represents treachery and cowardice in Western culture. Once these qualities were used to feed the ‘yellow peril’ scare, race and behavior became intermingled.

At Chinese American funerals, mourners receive a butterscotch candy in a white coin envelope. The candy's sweetness is meant to counteract the bitterness and must be eaten before going home. The intensely bright wrappers, instead of being thrown away, are preserved in resin and photographed like scientific artifacts to force the viewer to confront yellow as a tangible object and intangible idea. Creases in the wrappers resemble scars and wrinkles, material evidence of time passing and a reminder that grief leaves a permanent impression.

Is quiet suffering and keeping one's head down a cowardly act or an example of strength and courage? I hope to start a conversation about how silently enduring hardship can perpetuate stereotypes and create mental health challenges in Asian American populations.


Yellow, 2025
Pigment inkjet print, butterscotch candy, resin, acrylic, glass
Dimensions variable