Jennifer Chia-Ling Ho - The Bronx Museum

Biography

‘How are you?’ A casual greeting that doesn’t necessarily mean what the three words say. The speaker isn’t always interested in knowing how you are really feeling. However, in a racially conscious society, the pronunciation of this simple sentence weighs much more heavily than its meaning. Being a first-generation immigrant, I’m frequently reminded of my identity as a Taiwanese, a foreigner, and a nonnative because of my inability to speak ‘perfect’ English and my ‘foreign’ accent. I’m interested in the racial, cultural, and social power dynamics that language enacts and identity’s uncertainty and performativity in immigrants and foreigners.

I consider the issues of translation, mistranslation, and lost-in-translation. My interdisciplinary practice responds to my linguistic and cultural displacement with sculpture, installation, photography, and audio. My method involves extracting, rearranging, and manipulating found texts and media that refer to cultural-specific context or knowledge. I explore how the viewing experience is culturally mediated and changes as presented in different cultural contexts. My sculpture and installation as seen in their abstracted and fragmented form exist in a state of constantly processing information and searching for connections and the sense of belonging.

Artist Statement

‘How are you?’ A casual greeting that doesn’t necessarily mean what the three words say. The speaker isn’t always interested in knowing how you are really feeling. However, in a racially conscious society, the pronunciation of this simple sentence weighs much more heavily than its meaning. Being a first-generation immigrant, I’m frequently reminded of my identity as a Taiwanese, a foreigner, and a nonnative because of my inability to speak ‘perfect’ English and my ‘foreign’ accent. I’m interested in the racial, cultural, and social power dynamics that language enacts and identity’s uncertainty and performativity in immigrants and foreigners.

I consider the issues of translation, mistranslation, and lost-in-translation. My interdisciplinary practice responds to my linguistic and cultural displacement with sculpture, installation, photography, and audio. My method involves extracting, rearranging, and manipulating found texts and media that refer to cultural-specific context or knowledge. I explore how the viewing experience is culturally mediated and changes as presented in different cultural contexts. My sculpture and installation as seen in their abstracted and fragmented form exist in a state of constantly processing information and searching for connections and the sense of belonging.