Tales of Work and Glory (1971)
2020
Installation and social media
Audio recordings, artist’s Instagram (#talesofworkandglory), handwritten ink on paper panels

I took dictation from a series of audio interviews with my mom as she recounted some important memories of her youth, specifically from 1971.

In order to transcribe her stories, I needed help in writing Chinese beyond the few dozen words I knew how to write. I made a cup of tea per day for my mom in exchange for each Chinese character I had to learn to write, doublecheck with her, or re-learn to write (as it’s easy to forget how to write in Chinese without regular practice). Photos of these exchanges of tea for knowledge were posted daily to the artist’s Instagram, #talesofworkandglory .

Through this process I was able to transcribe some of her memories to large panels of paper, invisible no more.