Artist Statement

I live with PTSD and dissociation, and often feel detached from my own body and this land. These tapestries are part of a series negotiating new relationships to both. As I learn more about how I can trust and respect this land and its indigenous stewards, I also yearn to return to my body–so I can be present and active in the ways I give back and support. Weaving tapestries is slow work, and with every stitch I hope to pay attention to my body, to the kelp forests I’ve been raised by, and the flowers that return each spring, and meditate on what is my responsibility as a settler on this coast.

My work explores my experiences as an estranged, queer, firstborn daughter of Taiwanese immigrants. I engage with natural fiber to consider my relationships to family lineage, the Asian American diaspora, and the Indigenous land that I live on. I approach weaving as a ritual to navigate the violences diasporic people of color navigate in this country. Weaving allows me to approach difficult subject matters with softness and with slow intention. I seek to break through the silence and stigma surrounding these issues for Asian American femmes, children of immigrants, and diasporic peoples living in this country by evoking images and text about generational trauma, rupture, and healing. As a survivor who struggles with dissociation and putting words to my silence, my art practice has been a tactile way to ground myself back in my body, bringing me back to the soft and certain movements of my own two hands. Here, I make softness where I’ve felt a lack, and weave bridges back to the stolen parts of my self.

Biography

Michelle Lin is a visual artist, cultural worker, and author of the poetry collection A House Made of Water (Sibling Rivalry Press, 2017). Their writing and art practice are rituals of grief and healing from the violence of patriarchy, capitalism, assimilation, and living within the imperial core. Passionate about building liberatory spaces for diasporic and queer artists, they work as the Artist Growth Program Director at ARTogether and serve on the Advisory Councils for Vital Arts and Artists’ Adaptability Circles. Learn more at michellelinmakes.com.