Under a Constellation of Leaves, 2019
Aluminum fence panel, air-dry clay, wire, Aqua-Resin, paint, 72 x 168 x 120 inches
RACHELLE DANG
Artist Statement
I use form as my voice. I build, transform, and interpret objects from the past and from the natural world to examine historical and ecological connections between places, people, and things. My approach draws from my family’s history in Hawai`i, where I was born and raised, yet I aim to create works that span cross-cultural, transoceanic histories. I believe critical dialogue about the past is crucial to grappling with our conception of the present and vision for the future.
For several years I have constructed botanical transport containers based on eighteenth-century scientific drawings. This series of work addresses forms of control over environments and populations. These cages were originally intended for the ocean conveyance of living tropical plants from the Pacific to Europe for observation and eventual cultivation in other territories. I interpret the significance of these historical forms through shifts in scale, materials, and context. The scale relates directly to the body, addressing human experiences of migration and uncertain journeys, while evoking aspects of restraint and captivity. Each structure has been transformed in different ways: one is covered with an overgrowth of sculpted vines that appear brittle and bone-white; two are sheathed in copper and surrounded by hundreds of ceramic breadfruits that appear to be rotting; another is sealed with opaque glass and buttressed by ceramic sandbags. My practice has evolved from the work I do with my hands to shape and manipulate form. Although I begin with a mimetic approach, I forsake authoritative verisimilitude to create new opportunities for interpretation. I emphasize intertwined vulnerabilities: environment, body, and material. The natural forms I have sculpted – flowers, leaves, vines, and fruits – appear distressed and misshapen, alluding to human anatomy and fragile environments, while evoking regeneration. My interpretive and sensory engagement with material and form propels my inquiry into the legacies of the past and the emancipatory possibilities of art. As the interdisciplinary scholar Lisa Lowe has written: “Only by defamiliarizing both the object of the past and the established methods for apprehending that object do we make possible alternative forms of knowing, thinking, and being.”