Date of Award
Spring 5-31-2025
Document Type
Thesis
Degree Name
Master of Fine Arts (MFA)
Department
Illustration
First Advisor
Susan Doyle
Second Advisor
Lili Chin
Third Advisor
Pao Houa Her
Abstract
For the Time Beings is a socially engaged installation and artist book exploring the material consequences and future possibilities of sociocultural time theories. Time, in the West, is typically associated with Newtonian linearity, while in the East, time theory relies on Buddhist principles. These epistemologies reinforce hierarchical and patriarchal structures. Centered on Indigenous Asian and Asian American perspectives, For the Time Beings challenges dominant ideologies of existing in time and space.
For nearly a year, I’ve burned handwritten prayers on new and full moons. The ashes of these prayers are incorporated into reverential drawings of chosen ancestors, made with charcoal and thread on 한지 hanji. Fire-treated portraits form the backdrop for communal manifestations collected on-site and online. Hand-treated ritualistic objects, atmospheric lighting, and an immersive soundscape further transform the space.
The artist book contains interviews from members of my artistic and spiritual communities: Cori Nakamura Lin (a Japanese, Okinawan, and Taiwanese American visual artist and cultural worker), Billy Lor (a Hmong American master shaman and cultural consultant), and Mudang Jenn (a Korean American shaman and artist). Connecting my work to the personal interviews are autotheoretical essays on the project’s artistic research and methods. The book and formal elements of the artwork emphasize the nonlinear, cyclical, and cumulative aspects of time.
Recommended Citation
Hong, Tori, "For the Time Beings" (2025). Masters Theses. 1523.
https://digitalcommons.risd.edu/masterstheses/1523
Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-No Derivative Works 4.0 International License.
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