Meet the Artist
Kristi
Chen
Sculpture/Installation
“To Retrieve A Possible Heirloom I feel is a start rather than an end to my journey discovering archives about my family and the world around us. I've learned that our own personal histories and skills can very easily disappear through migration, industrialization and globalization. Living in an era of mass technological advancements and digital media, I've practiced and executed these sculptures through a blend of familial and digital archives. As there are no weavers in my immediate family, social media has greatly impacted how I learn the craft. The ability I've gained to redeem a lost craft and to retrieve forgotten narratives that is diminishing in the hands of our contemporary world meant hope. Hope that one day, we can continue to change many losses of knowledge and legacies into possibilities, disseminating from one generation to the next or vice versa”
Kristi Xiyuan Chen is a multi-disciplinary visual artist based in Toronto. Prior to her stay in Toronto, Chen was born in Vancouver and lived in Singapore, United States, Hong Kong in her childhood/teen years. Her work hypothesizes where the past coincides with the present through surreal environments, animals and imaginative creatures. Chen as a Canadian, Singaporean Chinese individual whom lived in East Asia and North America, has always felt positioned in a paradox. Throughout her life, she seeks to find comfort within her diasporic experience, which has influenced the imagery and materiality presented in Chen’s body of work. Manipulating three-dimensional objects , reviving lost traditions and legacies is an extension of her body and life. Creating a dialogue using sculptural forms to communicate complex identity politics and forgotten familial narratives could be potential relics for generations before and after.
2021, OCAD University Sculpture/Installation Medal Winner
OCAD University