Recent Asian hate crimes made me wonder who is a “true” American. One qualifier was being descendants of American Civil War soldiers. Highlighting the fact that Chinese immigrants fought in the Civil War invalidates the basis for their racist ideology. However, scant historical data exists. The lack of documentation is a reflection of our insignificance. We’re only visible when useful. Once our use is gone, we’re cast aside like the ephemera I use in my work. My mixed media and video works are recreations of undocumented histories about the first “undocumented” workers in United States. Recreations are just as “legitimate” as recorded history since we can never be outside of the reality matrix that we are bound in. So the “frame” is a misleading device for encoding the true nature of things. My recreations serve as objects of direct experiences instead of representations of events. Because we can never be outside of the matrix, any recorded history is filtered through colonialism, indoctrination, and cultural lexicons. By cutting, slicing, pasting, drawing and painting over “history,” I’m reclaiming and pasting Asian American space with Frankensteinian recreations into the pages of American history.
“Despite the violence committed upon them, 50 out of the 150 Chinese Americans living on the east coast volunteered to fight in the American Civil War,” 24”x18,” magazine paper, acrylic, and oil paint on paper (2022).
“Chinese Americans fought for the North and the South, depending upon where they lived,” 18”x24,” magazine paper, acrylic, and oil paint on paper (2022).
“Neither Northern or Southern regiments knew where to place them, with the White Soldiers or the Black soldiers,” 18”x24,” magazine paper, acrylic, and oil paint on paper (2022).
“They fought valiantly, many were Injured and/or captured,” 18”x24,” magazine paper, acrylic, and oil paint on paper (2022).
“Once healed and/or released, they went right back on the battle field,” 24”x18,” magazine paper, acrylic, and oil paint on paper (2022).
“Many soldiers never received the citizenship promised to them because of the Chinese Exclusion Act,” 18”x24,” magazine paper, acrylic, and oil paint on paper (2022).
“But the Chinese American veterans didn’t give up on life, many went onto marry women of other races (Chinese women were excluded from immigrating to US because of the Page Act) and had families,” 18”x24,” magazine paper, acrylic, and oil paint on paper (2022).
“Did You Know Chinese Americans Fought in the American Civil War?” mp3 (2022)
“Meditation” mp3 (2022)
