On the Ground

Mesina_Editha2
_18C6665_playgr
IMG_0603 2_road1
IMG_2514_east bwaysm
IMG_2551_red bricksm
IMG_2731_grand st 1
IMG_2792_ground_gate_corr_fl_small4
IMG_0645_gravelpitsm
IMG_0763_gravel light_sm
Q1A1050_smER
IMG_1085_brown pants grass_sm9
_Q1A3095_sm_v copy
_Q1A3458_no strap_sm2 copy
_Q1A3623_sm no button copy

The series On the Ground is a response to the fear and vulnerability that I and many Asians and Asian Americans continue to experience as we live through the Covid-19 pandemic when violence towards Asians is ongoing. Due to misinformation spread by then-President Trump, who called the virus “Kung Flu” and blamed China for the pandemic, Asians are being targeted as the source of the Coronavirus. These works, in which I am lying on the ground, channel emotional anxiety into the body and reclaim a charged and potentially dangerous exterior space. In my ruminations on the female reclining figure, I remove any element of status and sexuality often associated with the female reclining figure, i.e., the odalisque. In essence, a pose that may be passive is instead an active stance, a metaphor for a lie-in.

previous arrow
next arrow