Heir/Air/Loom: Hand to Mouth & Eyes and Ear
Artist
Wennie Huang
(American, born 1972)
Date2001
MediumScreenprint on two silk kites and custom made box.
DimensionsOverall (Each Kite): 18 x 18 x 18 in., (45.7 x 45.7 x 45.7 cm,)
ClassificationsPRINTS
Credit LineMuseum Purchase
Object number2002.14.a-c
DescriptionThe artist created 2 box kites using imagery from photographs of her grandparents.On View
On viewCollections
Copyright© Wennie Huang
Label Text
For Heir/Air/Loom, Wennie Huang selected sections from photographs of her Taiwanese grandparents and made photo-screenprints in the form of box kites. The title and form pay homage to her Asian lineage.
Ms. Huang writes that the isolated body parts - hands, mouth, eyes, and ear - "symbolize the dominant personality trait of each grandparent, as passed down to me in conversations with my parents." The Hand to Mouth kite represents her mother's parents. Huang's industrious grandmother held her family together while her boisterous grandfather "loved storytelling and was addicted to opium." The Eyes and Ears kite represents Huang 's paternal grandparents: "a strong grandmother who learned by watching and controlled her family with a glance, and a generous grandfather who expanded his business by keeping an ear to the ground."
MEM
02/03
