Abstract
Confronting the Lumberjack (and other stories I tell myself) is a series of four works consisting of Assimilation Simulation, Soothe, 2020 ~ 2021 ruminations, and The Lumberjack.
Assimilation Simulation is a 2 minute video performance that reenacts my childhood asian american affect around whiteness. It serves as an entry point back into my childhood mentality to confront the insecurities I faced at that young age.
Soothe is a 5 minute 34 second video and audio performance reaction to the increase of sinophobia in the US when the Covid-19 outbreak first entered the country. It is both a confrontation and desensitization to anti-asian hate as a way to survive, heal, and take back power.
2020 ~ 2021 ruminations is a collection of poetry written over the course of a year during two big and unexpected events in my life: a global pandemic and my mother’s sudden health decline. It chronicles the adapting, grieving, coping, and reflecting that happened during this time period and the variety of stories that I tell myself, both consciously and unconsciously.
When reflecting on childhood and the power dynamics that I’ve both experienced and witnessed growing up in a predominantly white minnesotan suburb, the legend of Paul Bunyan and Babe the Blue Ox becomes easy to reimagine as a tale of exploitation of the mute and obedient Babe for the sake of the proud and all-american Paul Bunyan and his legendary reputation.
As a confrontation of this story, The Lumberjack is a reimagining of the stereotypical red and black plaid flannel that’s oen associated with western lumberjacks; it has been easternized through hanfu inspired garment construction and made using entirely second-hand materials. When worn at face value, The Lumberjack is an embodiment of a presence that I oen feel is inescapable. However, through restyling it into personally wearable looks, I find the power to take away this “lumberjack energy” and instead, to reinsert my own voice and perspective.
In its entirety, this body of work documents an internal investigation into the stories that live within me and a process of reflecting on their legacies.
Artist Statement
Sherrill Zheng is a chinese american multimedia artist currently making self-reflective work during the Covid-19 pandemic. By investigating themes of childhood, race, gender, and identity, she explores art-making as a therapeutic and healing practice – a tool to excavate and externalize the unconscious stories within oneself. Through doing so, she aims to confront the ways in which she is still complacent in systems of violence while also finding compassion for her singularity. With quarantine as her chrysalis, she sees her current art practice as creating a foundation to eventually allow for future works that will hopefully focus more on connection. She hopes that through working on her own healing, she can provide a small point of reference for others to do the same.