based in Brooklyn, New York, homeland of the Lenape.
I’m a polyphagous artist; I practice within and across multiple disciplines including visual art, dance, music and bilingual writing (with a poetic life of its own or to narrate my other creative works). Image making is my strength and investigating the powers of non-verbal communication is where my passion lands. Why talk if we can sing instead?
My english speaking friends call me Joss;)
- 诗意偶遇 Poetic Encounters
- A series of oil pastel drawings from
- 2022
This practice was my effort to break away from product-oriented mindset and the constant self critique I struggle with, as in wounds in my ego. When making these drawings, myself was my only tool and resource. After a long dissociative hibernation and disconnection from my own livelihood, I wanted to rekindle my passion for art, the kind of innocent freedom I experienced when I was 4.
The exhibit location, a Taiwanese boba store near where I live, is of personal significance. It’s free to put up works, warm and smells sweet. In the 2000s, Taiwanese bubble tea swept through mainland, including Shanghai, an urban city where I lived. Next to my middle school, there was a small place selling boba tea (珍珠奶茶) and popcorn chicken (盐酥鸡). After a long day of taxing schoolwork, I often stopped by on my way home to satisfy my cravings. In my memories, the smell of boba store resembles a quick, cheap, yet nourishing snack and a warm room filled with casual chitchats.
This project is about self discovery, an intimate path to recovery/rebirth, the way home. Process-based, experimental and poetic, this series of works assembles into a maze of metaphors for the viewers’ witness and choice of navigation.