Shu-Ju Wang
A game for four players, Superfoodland! looks at eating trends and highlights the consequences of the consumer's enthusiasm to embrace a new superfood and devour it at every opportunity, disturbing the delicate balance of sustainability.
Tenuous Connections is part of a series of ‘pillow books’ about our tenuous hold on our memories. I chose the pillow form as a metaphor for memories because they cradle our heads (the physical repository of our memories) when we sleep (the time when our memories are formed).
The images are Gocco printed on tulle, a very loose mesh of netting material. When a single printed layer of tulle is viewed, the image is barely visible. But when several layers of the printed tulle are stacked and registered, the image appears. Again, much like ideas that need to be frequently reinforced in order to form a strong memory.
This piece examines the reality of product vs. the medium it is packed in by inverting the relationship between the two. The products we purchase often have limited lifespans — they break down, wear out or we simply move on to the next new thing; they are, in effect, disposable. In mail or online ordering, we have found something that will last generations. With the exception of biodegradable starch foam and paper packing, most packing materials are various forms of plastic that do not biodegrade and recycling is limited. When recycling is available, the materials are recycled into other forms of plastic. In short, these packing materials are the heirlooms that we leave for future generations.
By presenting 20 packing materials in a clamshell box packed in shredded mail-order catalogues, The Medium is the Baggage puts product and packing in their rightful places within this historical context.
Red Tide (detail) connects the food on our table to red tide (toxic algal bloom) through the overuse of fertilizers in industrial agriculture, and the damages they do to our rivers and oceans.
This is the postcard for The Laundry Maze, an installation designed for the lobby of the Portland Building in Portland, Oregon. The project uses the historical reference of the Chinese laundry as a starting point to explore the professional transitions many immigrants face as they find work in different fields in their new lives. As one's profession is often the most public part of one's identity, this transition also brings about a change in identity.
Making art is a way for me to learn about the world and our relationship to each other— the land, the water, all the beings that call this place home—our experiences and transformations form a complex tapestry of cooperation and conflict. While my work is largely focused on the radical and sometimes catastrophic shifts of our lives, I find tenderness in our efforts to continue life on this planet, hope in our willingness to work together, and humor in our flaws.