SLOW BURN

ARTIST STATEMENT:

Kristen Chiu is an Asian-American interdisciplinary artist focusing on textiles & wearables.  Her work concentrates on human-object relations and human-nature interactions, exploring how we co-exist and impact each other. Chiu's work is informed by sentimentality, memory, thing theory, ritual, natural spaces, and the juxtaposition between collecting, consuming, and conserving. This is characterized by the use of found objects, mementos, natural materials, and the preservation of organic matter. As part of a diaspora, sentimentality towards objects has been integral to her practice.  The ritualistic process of holding onto something tangible to connect to the intangible feels familial.  Much of Chiu's work centers around the idea that our memories become intertwined with the vessels that witness them.  The things we collect hold feelings and memories and have the power to evoke more than just their corporeal forms.