Talismans

Folding paper talismans are an ongoing thread, form, and motif in my art practice. Inspired by Taoist paper fulu, inscribed with cryptic spells for healing and protection, my talisman works draw upon traditional motifs in contemporary contexts for protection, questioning, seeking, and mourning. The works often invite the viewer to fold and perform rituals with the talismans, creating tensions and portals between the physical and spiritual.

Immigrant talisman print

My earliest talisman exploration took the form of a foldable 3-color risograph print, a protective charm for immigrants. The talisman includes coyotes for adaptive resistance, mirroring that of migratory humans with lineages of trauma; bats, a Chinese symbol for blessing; sacred geometries, auspicious numerologies, and the infinite; and a set of batwing constellations that fold into a canid’s head. Printed on four paper colors during my 2019 residency at The Future in Minneapolis, and available for purchase here.

/ (Slash) publication

Through a patrilineal thread embedded in my name, I can trace my ancestry back over two and a half millennia. But most tendrils of this lineage remain a mystery, including the spaces my body occupies. Three paper fu talismans and an incantation combine traditional and personal sigils, casting spells of connection and remembrance through the obscure reaches of my ancestral tree. This work invites the viewer to perform the ritual on my behalf – tearing, folding, consecrating, burning, and burying the talismans – destroying the piece materially in the process, and transmuting its value into the realms of the sacred.

I created this work for a group publication by / (slash), sharing the pages with Bay Area artists Consuelo Tupper Hernández, Heesoo Kwon, Sam Soon, and Silk Worm. Our inclusion was juried by Vivian Sming and Ranu Mukherjee, and the publications were designed by Tugce Evirgen Özmen and printed by Colpa Press, for publication in 2021.

Mourning talismans

For the first annual Hungry Ghost Festival in 2023, organized by the Chinese Culture Center of San Francisco, I designed a mourning talisman and participatory asynchronous ritual.

Paper mourning talismans with folding instructions were offered to festival visitors, to be customized for claiming all that one grieves, including losses not attached to established rituals or traditions. The talismans were designed to reveal secrets as one folded and unfolded them. Participants were invited to bless and carry the talismans with them for the duration of Ghost Month, and to ceremonially destroy them on their own timelines, completing the transfer of their living gestures to the realms beyond.

A print-at-home version of the mourning talisman is available to download here.