Themes I Would Like to Explore… …
Diaspora.
As populations move around the world through increasing globalization and forced migration, it became essential to study the act of self-fashioning and its relationship with identity formations.
Authenticity
This project will explore perspectives on cultural authenticity through dressing and storytelling of Chinese Canadian women. I wonder what ‘authenticity” means to individuals in a globalized world, as cross-cultural, hybrid fashion was so common in our everyday lives.
Activation
Though there are some wonderful publications on Chinese Canadian history, it is still a less discussed topic in the public history field. My initiative for this project is for Canadian women with Chinese heritage to gain visibility and agency through creative modes of expressions.
Empowerment.
I hope to create empowering conversations on Chinese Canadian women’s ideas about race, nationality and belonging, and how they use self-fashioning to claim cultural citizenship between the two worlds. I sincerely invite you to be a part of this conversation and this journey.
Social History
The exhibition covers a long historical period of a hundred years. I look forward to seeing how individual experiences corresponded with the border socio-cultural history in twentieth-century Canada and China, and how some key historic events impacted women’s fashion and livelihood.
Active Spectatorship
The Covid-19 pandemic creates restrictions but also opportunities for this exhibition to be fully digital. Traditionally, exhibitions on textiles and fashion took place in museum spaces. Now, I invite each one of you to challenge this tradition by having discussions with me in a virtual place.