Rosehips, echium, hibiscus, rose buds: Reading May 3, 2023
Video
This audio-visual work explores the constant tension between my relationship with my home country and the harshness of its reality. Made during the height of woman, life, freedom, I embody my childhood self: scared, soft-spoken, and confused, and through poetic storytelling, I grasp onto the anxiety, the need to find control over my fate, and find a semblance of hope that becomes more tangible.
By drawing a contradictory character of the Night fairies, where they both care for me and terrorize me, I explore it as an allegory of my relationship with my home country, where I both feel loved and abused. The narrative follows a fictional conversation with myself and the teacup. Inspired by Tea Reading (a method of fortune-telling) and hoping to find clues of hope, I ask the cup to tell me the story of the day, and the tealeaves and the herbs to give me strength, soothe me, and share the stories of the night fairies.