this thing larger than a self (2022) A poetic text-based installation split between gallery windows and walls, lilting between memory, longing, and presence, evoked by the intimacy of finding a keepsake from a lover. The complete poem reads:

noon was i / i saw noon
/ somewhere an hour exists /
and i am caught / within its spinning /

unwound / and unable to be freed / a stick stuck / a flimsy sundial / resident shadow / i am / softly shifting / around the light / as if / hands held either shoulder / turning me just so / i pick up my feet / only / to put them down again / a delicate pivot / one and then the other / reflective / i go on / remembering / returning to the same sun-bleached title / to the coffee stained grocery list / a bookmark /

left behind / its edges worn and dog-eared / i run my finger over the creases / thin / raised / fractures outline the shape it took / while folded in your pocket / on the page where you paused / the author writes of memory / as translation and refusal / a form of suspension / a timeless exchange / half past true / i am / (still) / a watchful mirror / i go on holding / even when / i / am no longer / held

Intimate Dwellings explored the nuances of intimacy through the lens of culture, identity, time, and the body. This Third Space Gallery exhibition was curated by Sso-Rha Kang and featured works by Rain Chou, Yuxiang Dong, and myself.

Our works aimed to highlight the residual remnants of intimacy and its many forms through a poetic text-based installation, a family study in film, abstract documentations of the self, and an artifact that links the present and the past.