The work belongs to a new series where for the first time in my practice I overtly reference Chinese calligraphy and characters. The character in this work is “又” which means “again”. The choice of this character is for its allusion to the idea repetition, both in terms of its meaning and for its “composite property”*.

This work considers my continued interest in repetition, painting as a site for assemblage, spatial relations, and my identity as an artist of the Asian diaspora.

In the past, references to blatant culturally specific elements may marginalise the artist. However in the past year, the BLM movement and the Anti-Asian Hate movement became catalysts for conversation and change, albeit the fact that they originated from the tragic pandemic and devastating episodes of racism and inequality.
Minority voices are less marginalised due to the efforts in recent years. Hence, I feel I am now able to claim (or even proclaim) my East Asian identity; overt culturally-specific references would not trap my work into a specific genre and I am able to explore my heritage.

Several elements intersect the work: the Chinese character, a pattern in curved brackets “{ }” that references Central Asian kilims, and fossilised marine creatures, from the Ingolf Expeditions of the early 20th Century (biodiversity heritage library, Smithsonian Libraries and Archives).

*The “composite property” refers to when a character can be combined with another copy of itself (for example, the double of “”双” becomes “双” which means “double”), or two or three copies of itself (叒叕). These “composite” characters form completely new characters which signify different meanings. Interestingly, together the four possible combinations make up a newly emerged internet slang, 又双叒叕, which means “the frequent reoccurrence of an event”. The character employed in this painting is one of a limited number of Chinese characters which can be combined this way.

— Vivien Zhang, August 2021