Holly Wong, Mending Body/Mending Mind, 2023, Cotton, silk, lame and antique lace with invisible thread. 2 channel video projection with sound, 96 x 132 x 120 inches.
Holly Wong
Artist Statement
Mending Body/Mending Mind is an immersive fiber installation which incorporates a poem and sound composition by Aya Karpinska and 2-channel video by Al Wong. It explores the themes of mothers and daughters, sexual violence, and resilience. Using the language of traditional quilt making, I have created a suspended environment of transparent shapes from silk, cotton and antique lace, that have been sewn, cut and then reassembled again. Projected on the fabric is a 2-channel video of sewing and grooming activities as a proxy for a sublimated kind of violence.
The poem and sound composition use the words of my deceased mother as if she were alive to tell me her harrowing story. By employing predominantly white or monochromatic fabric, I refer to Buddhist mourning customs surrounding the transition to a new life and rebirth. Ultimately, the installation serves as a metaphor for the ways in which trauma disfigures the female body and the mending process that creates a stronger whole.
Past Group Exhibitions: “Write me letters” you write to me, 2024 Sunshowers, 2023 Structures of Feeling, 2022 Fractal Nature, 2021 Forever is composed of Nows, 2020 Active directions of the mind, 2019