Rock. Paper. Scissors.

The original inspiration for my artwork series: Rock. Paper. Scissors. are the intricate Chinese paper cuts that my mother would create during Chinese new year called chuāng huā. As a child I would watch her meticulously cut traditional Chinese designs using her tiny pair of scissors. She would make designs including zodiac animals, flowers and Chinese characters arranged within a highly patterned background. These intricate paper cuts would be hung in the window to catch the sunlight and create beautiful dappled shadow patterns. Throughout history, many different cultures have their own version of paper cut folk art customs similar to this such as papel picado in Mexico or scherenschnitt in Germany & Switzerland. I wanted to create patterns of my own like my mother created but with organic and natural shapes that I am familiar with in my contemporary life.

The title of the series Rock. Paper. Scissors. not only speaks to the process of creating these artworks but is also a way I think about different cultural classifications of myself. Which version of myself should I choose? Being someone who is Chinese but born in the US my family often calls me a “bamboo shoot” (looks like Chinese on the outside, but void of the culture on the inside) so it is important for me to pay homage in my own way to an aspect of my Chinese heritage that I feel like I can relate to.

Rock. Paper. Scissors. best represents me as an artist because it marries the chance operations and abstractions from my previous works with the struggles of my cultural identity. Rock. Paper. Scissors. is a window into how my dominant American side has melded with my Chinese heritage. My family calls me “ABC” because I am Chinese born in the United States. All my life my family constantly reminded me that I’m not Chinese enough and that I wouldn’t understand their values and was warned I would never be accepted as an American either. I used to feel stuck in the middle but as an adult I realized I could choose from the best of both worlds. One thing I can appreciate in any culture is artwork, that’s how Rock. Paper. Scissors. came to be, watching my mother cut her chuāng huā paper cuts to hang in the window for the new year.

I have a background in darkroom photography and use my experience in the darkroom to create these works with the technique of the photogram. A photogram is the oldest photographic technique (founded by accident) that does not use a camera or film. A photographic image is made without a camera by placing objects directly onto the surface of a light-sensitive photographic paper and then exposing it to light. The result is sometimes compared to looking like an x-ray or silhouette of the objects placed on the paper.

In order to create my artworks I cut a number of paper shapes and use them to create a photogram image in the darkroom. My process mimics the purpose/usage of the paper cuts hung in the window, the light coming through the cut paper and creating silhouettes.

In contrast to traditional Chinese paper cuts, the scale of Rock. Paper. Scissors. is enormous. Most of my works are around 48 X 58 inches. I wanted my pieces to be much larger than the chuāng huā (usually no larger than a sheet of printer paper) so they could be shared. The very first large scale work I made in this series was 8 X 10 feet for a public art installation. In a weird way it was a satisfying way for me to give a shout out to my family so that they could maybe be proud I am able to feel connected with my Chinese side.