My Shed Skin Becomes A Mask – Closing

My Shed Skin Becomes A Mask explores iconography prominent in East Asian, South Asian, and Southeast Asian mythologies, and the ways in which they have been decontextualized/reinstated/aestheticized in the Western canon. This project attempts to seek out the transformative potential for faces and characters in folklore to manifest future subversive pseudo-mythologies as means of inquiring into one’s subjugated personal history or coping with the precarious socio-political landscape within the US as told through the lens of 2 immigrant artists. May 11th Closing 12 – 2pm will be first activation of the book FUTURE/PRESENT published by Duke University Press from ArtChangeUS, edited by Daniella Alvarez, Roberta Uno, Elizabeth M. Webb in lieu of the closing of My Shed Skin Becomes A Mask, a two person show by Jinseok Choi and Vickie Aravindhan. My Shed Skin Becomes A Mask explores iconography prominent in East Asian, South Asian, and Southeast Asian mythologies, and the ways in which they have been decontextualized/reinstated/aestheticized in the Western canon. This project attempts to seek out the transformative potential for faces and characters in folklore to manifest future subversive pseudo-mythologies as means of inquiring into one’s subjugated personal history or coping with the precarious socio-political landscape within the US as told through the lens of 2 immigrant artists. Jinseok Choi and Vickie Aravindhan focus on the inherently paradoxical use of traditional masks. The wearer is revealed by hiding; the wearer is scared by becoming their own fear; the wearer connects with others by setting a boundary, a complex survival tactic used by ancestors, as well as immigrant and marginalized communities. For more information, please see the exhibition page.