I question how we live our lives currently and how various systems control our current ways of being. I wonder how we want to live our lives instead. As we navigate the calamities of modern times, I try to make sense of our roles and choices as humans. How can we live kinder? To ourselves and to one another? 

At the heart of many Chinese lessons, stories, and idioms is the question of how to cultivate moral character, or how to behave as a human, especially in relation to those around us. I grew up with these values while inhabiting American principles of individual expression and self-sufficiency. 

In my piece where I make concrete molds of the Chinese character for “person” 人, I arrange these characters spatially in relation to one another to explore disparate statements about our interdependent nature. Sculpturally and metaphorically, this interdependence may stem from physical forces like gravity or from something more constructed. In one iteration, I take a closer look at the Chinese phrase for character building, 做人. The word 做, to make/do, sounds like the word 坐, to sit. By reflecting on the relation of these two words, I seek to grasp how interdependent relationships, an ethic of labor, and moral conduct are intimately tied together in Chinese society, illuminating the balance between personal autonomy and our shared humanity. Part of my questioning within my practice is wondering when these ideals teeter towards harm or force. Or, instead of assigning any value to it, I am curious what thoughts and feelings arise when we witness it as it is and invite others to consider their own roles in this intricate web.