Steep

Chen M.

• Artist Statement

  Growing up speaking Mandarin at home, I thought I understood my heritage. But my grandparents speak a different dialect—one I never learned. This linguistic gap means there are family stories I'll never hear, like why my grandmother is blind in one eye. Steep explores this space between connection and isolation, where family exists in objects rather than words—living in sloshing tea leaves, in porcelain that carries stories even when mouths cannot, and in mornings spent climbing together in silence.

• Creative Statement

  Connecting real life with a message; producing something that satisfies you; conveying a point in indirect, but discernible methods.