Incorporating traditional aesthetic forms, (self) portraiture, and contemporary references, the works in this exhibition navigate complex and layered histories of place—spanning the Philippines, Hawai’i, China, Korea, Japan, and Singapore—by considering how this intersects with lived experiences, myth, and the legacies of colonialism.
By exploring the materiality of the female body, these works present the figure as a dynamic site where past and present, here and there, interiority and exteriority, self and other converge. The title of the exhibition amplifies this multiplicity by highlighting the fluidity between “I” and “you.” Who is being addressed? It also alludes to how “you” might be implicated in your role as settler, colonizer, viewer. By actively acknowledging the viewer, these works resist the fetishization of the body, refusing to become passive objects of the gaze. Instead, the body emerges as a source of strength, reclaiming space for histories and identities that have long been marginalized or erased.
Artists: Rachelle Dang, Michelle Im, Sara Jimenez, Ahrong Kim, Natalia Nakazawa, Jia Sung.
Curated by Anna Khimasia.