At Accent Sisters Home is an Ongoing Story
The home is often imagined as a physical space, intimately linked to childhood and memories, and a foundational cornerstone of our identities. However, not everyone is lucky enough to spend their entire lives in the same place that was once called home. Whether due to educational, professional, or other personal reasons, many people in the modern era find themselves thousands of miles away from home, and must reckon with their new status as untethered beings in an unfamiliar setting. Curated by Xingze Li and presented by Accent Sisters, Home, Reassembled is a staff show that brings together 23 artists from diverse cultural backgrounds, whose artworks reshape and expand the traditional definition of “home.”
Ghosts from the past must be confronted before one is able to reimagine the idea of home. Nany Chen’s Restless Room takes the first step by recreating childhood spaces that were once places of fear: a door refuses to close, a shadowy figure is glimpsed in the mirror, and darkness quickly engulfs a bedroom which was once filled with sunlight. Yet rather than inducing terror, Restless Room reframes these places in a way that allows the viewer to comfortably revisit their childhood emotions and memories. Vyolet Jin’s illustrations from her Unconfident Folder series utilize the imagery of a corrupted digital file as a metaphor for the fragmented and isolated nature of self-doubt and emotional disconnection, in the hopes that viewers would be able to safely explore their own internal struggles and break free from the closed loop system of anxiety. A terror fails in any form of translation by Yining Mao reenacts the artist’s grandmother’s disoriented vision during her final days, as she believed that she was being haunted by the ghosts of her closest family members. However, this feeling of terror is somehow eased as it is retold and translated through the medium of photography. Interspace by Camille Hsin I Lin and the poems of Tenny Liu both meditate upon existentialism and the transient nature of the human experience, each capturing intense physiological sensations and dreamlike narratives which explore the vitality and eventual decay of the human body. A Bone by Huiqi He is based on the folk rituals in Xiangxi, the mountainous western region of Hunan Province. The paper installation depicts a body suspected of being afflicted by 蛊 (gǔ), a poison which was believed to have been used in black magic practices.
The transformation of the domestic space happens in tandem with the transformation of how an individual understands their own position within society. Hush is a continuation of Zaozao Zhang’s ongoing visual exploration of a matriarchal civilization. The ancestors and deities typically found in the traditional household altar are replaced by an illustration celebrating the beauty of the female body. Found objects such as mother-of-pearl and a vintage clock serve as offerings in this shrine to femininity. Domestic spaces are reimagined once again in Soft Iron: Contemporary Witch Hunt by Leyan Zhu, which juxtaposes rosy-pink wallpaper and cartoon illustrations with an industrial lock and intimidating metal sheet engraved with 贞节 (chastity), emphasizing the social burdens and taboos that young girls undergo as they transition into womanhood. What was once a young girl’s innocent and private space is disrupted by the intrusion of societal control over her body. In response to this, the subject matter of Sharon Zhang’s Beyond power and evil eludes recognition, simultaneously creating a feeling of uncertainty and freedom. What appears as a box of cigarettes to some may appear as a flyer or business card to others, leaving the subject of the painting open to each viewer’s personal translation of visual motifs into different interpretations. The process of transformation is also present in Chenxi Shuai’s sculpture, A seam in my room. Shuai combines the hard elements of a stairway post and metal knitting needles with the soft element of mohair yarn, giving the impression of a domestic space in the midst of metamorphosis. As this space is transformed, Shuai’s print series, In a phantom mood, resembles evanescent Polaroids depicting fading memories from a previous era.
As the idea of home continues to evolve, artists in the exhibit examine the visceral relationship between the home, memory, and the human body. Sha Luo’s photographs, body hairs and foot, offer intimate close-ups of anonymous subjects’ bodies, reminding us that our first home is not a city or nation, but rather our own physical body that we use everyday to interact with the world around us. In Ginny Li’s performance, Ectoplasm of My Soul: Written by Women, female participants were invited to write snippets from Li’s own poems and novels onto her nude-colored dress. Li’s performance is inspired by her experience as a writer, explaining that she considers her words to be like her second skin. Nadis of the Present by Alison Long is an interactive art piece which acts as a “snapshot” of the audience’s current mood. Participants are asked to map out their feelings by connecting red strings to the nodes they resonate with most, resulting in a tactile data visualization of the community’s present state of being.
The significance of community is a running thread connecting many of the works in the exhibit. Yuki He’s Chinatown Basketball Club is a digital reimagining of Columbus Park during the CBC Mini-Market Day. Chinatown Basketball Club is a weekly gathering of artists of Asian descent who host pick-up games, tournaments, and various creative projects; thus transforming the basketball court into a place of belonging and shared artistry. Elle Xiang Li evokes the heat of her hometown, Wuhan, in Stencil Print (Untitled: Purple, texture, sunburn, and sweat), using the “sweating” process to explore identity and body modification culture. In The Monster Cries Out For Love In The End Of The World by Ahzel, a boy dreams of twin souls in order to escape a cruel reality. As an apocalypse unfolds, the violence of alienation has a terrible effect on human nature, and people yearn for the kinship found in human connection. This desire for connection is seen once again in Epic by Winifred Dongyi Wang, which recounts a series of fragmentary memories of a slowly deteriorating relationship.
The routines of quotidian human life and the uncontrollable volatility of nature come together in Quan Yuan’s Please Remember series. Yuan found spiritual meaning in the vibrant colors and patterns brought about by the process of burning images of her hometown, interpreting the results as beauty being reborn from destruction. Jie Shao’s On Circles and Chey Zeng’s Springtime Mania are similarly inspired by the geometric forms and various emotions that can be found while immersed in nature. Likewise, Yucheng Liao’s 烏青 (wū qīng) portrays the simplicity of nature, using a weaving method to create a gentle portrait of Tibet’s spring breeze and mossy riverbanks in 烏青 (wū qīng). This moment of quiet contemplation is echoed in Untitled (where shall I go: sirius) by Siyu Chen, in which the decision to stay versus embark on a new adventure is characterized by two birds: one which nervously perches atop a tray of wine glasses, and another which is glimpsed mid-flight in the reflection of a mirror. The second bird’s wings mimic Sirius, the brightest star in the night sky, which served as a guiding light throughout the centuries. Tom Zhang’s eponymous short film, Tom by Zhang, tackles the same questions as Chen’s, serving as a record of Zhang’s time in New York City as she grapples with the dilemma of home versus mobility.
In Home, Reassembled, the artists have collaboratively redefined the idea of home: as a state of mind, as an ongoing story, as a space charged by repeated actions and rituals, and as a safe place where we can go as we are and not be questioned.
Home, Reassembled is open through June 1, 2025, with a closing reception of poetry readings and screenings between 2-5PM at Accent Sisters, 89 5th Avenue, Suite #702, NY, NY.
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