"Ruminations"

As a child, if something bothered me I would draw it on a piece of paper and then erase it or tear it up. I didn’t need to show anyone, I just needed to get it out. This became my rumination.

I hoped that if I slept and woke up, all would be reset to normal. I implored my mind a long time ago, but bad memories stayed. Sometimes they would recede, but they always returned, like waves that come and go. It is difficult to forget things when I try hard. Eventually I realized that I needed to absorb them and live with them somehow.

I have been photographing chalkboards recently. It is enthralling - this erasable object that has had many people’s thoughts and ideas layered upon it. I, too, write what comes to my mind on chalkboards and then erase them, following the process of my childhood ruminations. Sometimes, when you come across a chalkboard, you can make out some words or letters which spark your imagination. This has a parallel to how people’s personal memories affect the way they look at landscape photos.

Last winter, I traveled to the place where my father grew up. I had many chances to photograph there, however I wasn’t ready for a long time as the area carried many poignant memories. This time, gazing at the familiar view that is always in my memory, I found I was ready for it. That scenery that had remained unchanged all this time allowed me to realize the sad and sweet memories I associated with it are things of the past. By photographing these sceneries and seeing them as objects, I realized that it had become another rumination for me.

Chalkboards and landscapes are related to each other though it may not be explicit. The rumination process behind them both is what connects these images; the idea of how things carry history with them, and how our perceptions are affected. These images are the records of this process.

SOLO EXHIBITIONS

2010 Tosei Gallery, Tokyo, Japan
The Third Gallery Aya, Osaka, Japan
2008 Tosei Gallery, Tokyo, Japan
2007 Hampden Gallery, University of Massachusetts Amherst, Amherst, MA, U.S.A
2005 Pingyao International Photography Festival 2005, Shanxi Province, China
De Santos Gallery, Houston, TX, U.S.A
2003 Roanoke College, Salem, VA, U.S.A
Houston Center for Photography
2002 New Arts Program, Kutztown, PA, U.S.A
The Center for Photography Woodstock, NY, U.S.A
"JAPAN WEEK" D-137 Gallery, St. Petersburg, Russia

GROUP EXHIBITIONS

2012

Nancy Margolis Gallery, New York, NY, U.S.A
Art Greenwich, Greenwich, Massachusetts, U.S.A
”Beyond 1 lens & Over 100 eyes” hpgrp GALLERY, New York, NY, U.S.A
Group Show, Brenda Taylor Gallery, New York, NY, U.S.A

2010

Group Show, Dio Art Center, Saul, Korea
Group Show, Belgium International Cultural Center, Kobe, Japan

2009

Group Show, “Surface of Window” Kyoto International Center, Kyoto, Japan
"Fashion Center's juried art exhibition" Gallery 8 at Port Authority, New York, NY, USA
The Sultry Show, Kris Graves Projects, Brooklyn, NY
Joshua Hellmann Foundation Auction Show, Hong Kong

2008

Kingwood Art Gallery, Houston TX, U.S.A

2007

“Wishing Tree” in Central Park supported by LMCC, New York NY, U.S.A
“Transparent” ONOMA, Fiskars, Finland
“Super PHAT” School of Visual Arts Gallery, New York, NY, U.S.A

2006

“Less is More” Williams Tower Gallery, Houston, TX, U.S.A

2005

New York/New England/New Talent 2005, Hampton Gallery, University of Massachusetts Amherst, U.S.A
Asian Pacific American Heritage “Affinity,” Houston, TX, U.S.A
“Other America” Exit Art, New York, NY, U.S.A

2004

Sara Gris Art Gallery, New York, NY, U.S.A
Small Works, New Arts Programs, Kutztown, PA, U.S.A

2003

Galeria Galou, Williamsburg-Brooklyn, NY Juror: Yucef Merhi, Mariano Del Rosario and Claire Weiss
“Serene Beauty” Interactions Between Sublime And Zen Jamaica Center, New York, NY
“COLOR COMPLEXTIES” Newport Art, Newport, NJ, U.S.A
“Recession 2003 $99 Show” Cynthia Broan Gallery, NY, U.S.A

2002

Grabado sin Fronteras/Printmaking Without Borders, The Mission Cultural Center, San Francisco,CA, Estamaperi’ a Quitena, Quito, Ecuador, National Museum of Belarus, Minsk, Belarus
"Annual Competition" Delaware Center for the Contemporary Arts, Wilmington, DE, U.S.A
"4th NAP Biennial Video Festival" juror Dan Cameron, Ann Born, Mary Lucia, Ann-Sargent Wooster, Delaware Center for the Contemporary Arts, Wilmington, DE, U.S.A
MCS Gallery, Easton, PA, Art Resource Center, PA, Allentown Art Museum, Allentown, PA, Philadelphia Art Alliance, Philadelphia, PA, Marywood University Art galleries, Zoellner Arts Center, Scranton, PA, Paula Cooper Gallery, New York, NY, U.S.A

2001

"National Juried Competition" Juror Shamim Momin, Curator of Whitney Museum of American Art Long Beach Island Foundation of the Arts and Science, Loveladies, NJ, U.S.A
"2001 National Photography Competition" Juror Sarah Morthland, Curator and Director of Sarah Morthland Gallery, SOHO PHOTO Gallery, NY, NY, U.S.A
"22nd Annual Juried Exhibition" Juror Barbara Head Millstein, Curator of Photography, Brooklyn Museum of Art, Smithtown Township Arts Council, NY, U.S.A

2000

BMG ENTERTAINMENT, NEUBERGER BERMAN, GETMUSIC & GEN ART "ANNOUNCE NATIONAL VISUAL ARTS SEARCH" BMG Entertainment, NY, U.S.A
"International Artists" M+A Gallery, Amsterdam, Holland
"23rd Small Works" Juror Tricia Collins, East Gallery, New York NY, U.S.A

PUBLICATIONS

2013

Blur Magazine, Zagreb, Croatia

2009

Young SCMP Newspaper, Hong Kong, March 2008, Page E8

2008

Art Commentary, Yomiuri February 26, 2008
Nippon Camera Magazine, February 2008

2007

The Knitting Circle Shows Its Chic, New York Times Thursday Style, July 12,2007

2002

Photographer finds beauty in the ordinary, Eagle and Times, Ron Schira, February 22, 2002, B8
Art Commentary "Varied Views: Photography at Sag Harbor Picture Gallery and Nightingale" Dan's Papers" June 8, 2001 Page 86

2000

"Westhampton Exhibition Explodes Canal Prejudice" Southampton Press,
Eric Ernst, November 23, 2000, Art B-4
"Juried Annual Exhibition" Literature and Arts, The Antioch Record, E.B, September 2000, P-16
Southampton Press, Pat Rogers, February 10, 2000, Art B-1
"Benson Gallery Gives Video A Go" East Hampton Star, Robert Long, July 27 1999, III-1

AWARDS

Lower Manhattan Cultural Council
New Arts Program
KALA Art Institute
BMG ENTERTAINMENT, NEUBERGER BERMAN, GETMUSIC & GEN ART NATIONALVISUAL ARTS SEARCH
Trillium Press
The Santa Fe Center for Photography

RESIDENCIES

Onoma, Fiskars Finland 2007
MacDowell, Peterborough, NH 2007
Santa Fe Art Institute, Santa Fe, NM 2006
Art Farm, Marquette, NE 2005
Headlands Center for the Arts, Sausalito, CA 2004
Fundacion Valparaiso, Spain 2004
Kala Art Institute, Berkeley, CA 2001

COLLECTIONS

BMG Entertainment
Neuberger Berman
Akin, Gump, Strauss, Hauer and Feld, LLP
Kinsey Institute Museum, Bloomington, IL
Center For Photography at Woodstock
Houston Center for Photography, Houston, TX
New Arts Program, Kutztown, PA