REVIEW // ‘Tracing Origins’ Exhibit at Rowan University

Boat People by Claes Gabriel

by Ginger Rudolph

EXCERPT //

“Rowan University Art Gallery’s online exhibition, Tracing Origins, features three Philadelphia-based artists—Colette Fu, Claes Gabriel, and Hiro Sakaguchi—who give voice to their individual cultural communities as they pull from personal memories, experiences, and familial influences.

‘The selection of the artists followed a series of exhibitions that we did that focused on themes of portraiture and autobiographical narratives,’ says Curator Mary Salvante. ‘Tracing Origins was a concept that brought in a more global perspective by artists that are creating work influenced by their cultural ties to their ancestral origins.’

Not all immigrant stories have to be filled with despair or revealing layers, and the artists reject the broader notion of the commodification of migrant experiences in favor of culturally based art as the focal point of that experience. 

Colette Fu’s delicate paper engineering of books displays the brilliant photographic emotion of her journeys. She has been documenting and experiencing marginalized communities’ rich culture firsthand in visits to southwestern China, including Yunnan, the province where her mother was born. Having previously seen Fu’s work in person, I wonder if the complex compositions and scale take a back seat in the virtual world; those aspects bring her subjects to life, creating a communal magic, leaving you feeling as if you experienced a ceremony yourself.”

For full text and images, consider reading RQ in print, on a Sunday afternoon, sun streaming through your window, coffee in hand, and nary a phone alert within sight or in earshot… just fine words, fine design, and the opportunity to make a stitch in time. // Subscribe or buy a single issue today. // Print is dead. Long live print. //