Making is a way to process and explore my Asian identity through the presentation of the interior experience. Initially, my work focused on self-perception in terms of social expectations, pop culture and the individual experience of negotiating these external forces. With a desire to be unconcerned with others’ expectation of my identity and my performance of it, my work has evolved into an investigation of interstitial existence and the pursual of transcending notions of social constructs. Employing actions of mimicry, replication, simulation and imitation, I demonstrate the emotional weight and qualities of identity while portraying its encompassing ability to be multitudinous-restricting, liberating and anything in between at any given moment.
I have become increasingly interested in visceral relationships between the body, objects and materials, and what the perception and interpretation of these dynamics might suggest or reveal. The most current study of this topic takes the form of a collaborative project called the Im-pl-ment Archive with visual artist Ellen Kleckner. Through the investigation of form, texture, composition and material, the Im-ple-ment Archive is an exploration of tools, utensils and other pieces of equipment used for a particular purpose. For me, this project calls into question to the convention of identity and names by creating objects and tools that resemble, reference and mimic commonplace items.
“Conscious of the many social contours transecting the body and self, Linda has quite literally built a studio practice on an armature of flesh, metal, latex and rice. Arriving at a time when human social interactions become increasingly disembodied, her materials research connects surface and identity to places deep within the physical self. Employing an investigative process that uses time-based media, her work challenges how we consider the inexplicable motives of objects, subjects, wearer and beholders, makers and artists.
How is it that she does that?
With glue and a camera. ”