DOUBLEDURIAN
2007-8
wall installation
This installation changed over 6 months: it started minimally, with 4 small paintings hung on two pale green corner-walls, and then evolved into a fully-realized mural. Doubledurian functioned as a sort of border-zone, situated in quiet, frictive, imaginative space informed by my ongoing work around feminized overseas contract labor and immigration narratives.
The green fruit-like geometric forms are stylized durians (Southeast Asian fruits known for their spiky exterior, fleshy interior, and perversely pungent aroma). The durian functions as a sort of vas hermeticum: a sealed form suggesting an overseas contract worker’s tropical roots, his/her conspicuity in an institutionalized, homogenized environment, a vessel for containment and transference, and a sort of ominous self-protection.
An unanticipated optical shift occurred in the space after completing the mural: given the bounce of color and light in the space at various times of day, the hues in the mural would also shift, adding an entirely new dimension to the piece.