Long Time (Ginkgo)

Northern red oak, turmeric, hanji mulberry paper with inkjet print

6’0 x 5’3” x 4”
2022-2024

Quote from Stanley Kubrick's Full Metal Jacket (1987).

My skin is paper thin,
strong and taut,
surrendering to the wind

That day, amongst the billowing grasses I looked for ways to hide as I always have and realized my only choice was to sink into her touch.
That day, loving meant both letting myself be protected under her shadow and holding her close when the air pushed with force.
I am the leaf, the fan, the fall, the flirt,
the gaze, the punch, the wind, the burn

One day I’ll also return,
bending and burning,
bowing towards the Sun

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A large human-sized fan and ginkgo leaf reflecting on diasporic displacement and the objectification, overlooked violence, and resilience of the Asian femme body under American white sexual imperialism.

Above: Photographed by Maia Malakoff in Baltimore, USA. (2023)