M.A.M.A. Issue 30: Ching Ching Cheng & Jennifer Stewart Fueston [LINK]

Letting go series and Build series

In my work, I am interested in the relationship between identities and spaces. The physical environment and location, along with the cultural, social, economic and political aspects of space fascinate me. In my own practice, I question how identities are defined through space, and what the notion and ideology of identity means in relation to space.

As a first generation immigrant from Taiwan, married with two young mixed-race children, I am often being judged by the look and color of my kids in relation to mine, and this made me question my identity as well as my children’s identity in relation to its space. Space is the product of relations, and is always in the process of becoming. How I perceive my own identity in the space I created, versus how others perceive my identity in their space. In my most recent photography series, I have included my children as part of my process and practice where I explore “mothering spaces”. I started to create different environmental spaces as sculptures, installations, and photography. Having children has propelled me to question what an identity is and to work and practice more as part of my daily routine.

Adapting, resisting, transforming, and accepting are the nature of the “in-between” stages, and this process of progression has become an important focus of my work. I went to Mainland China in 2012 for the first time for a three-months artist-in-residency. This was my first time living in China and reliving in an Asian country after living in the United States for almost ten years. That experience allowed me to witness how my identity went through stages of change, and experience the process of in-between. Even though I am Chinese, and I have Chinese features, I didn’t feel like I belonged there in the beginning. Oftentimes people carry their own set of cultures and identities when they migrate, and it is inevitable that they have to adjust this “carry on” within the new environment, and also change and adjust the way they live with new environments throughout different stages and events of their lives. While on residency in China, I underwent the process of “in-between” the transition of identities, I changed the way I speak to how the locals speak I started to use the words and sentences they use. As a result of these relocating adjustments, a distinct new identity was established in the new space. Read more at Procreate Project [Link}