Artist Statement

I turned to creative outlets, after an extended career in healthcare, to speak out about the collective adversity that minority women habitually experience. I was drawn to glass because of how empowered I felt working with such a fragile, yet permanent material. I use this medium as a means of conveying how our patriarchal society, which controls cultural and social expectations and normalizes gender roles, negatively impacts Asian females.  To achieve this, I employ a visual language containing pop culture icons from my childhood. The symbolism behind these relics is often dismissed as trivial, but the ideals they reflect subtly reinforce social norms and binary systems.

               The globalization of the iconic Hello Kitty character has an undeniable relationship with the maintenance and propagation of Asian female stereotypes in the West. Hello Kitty is a recurring image in my work because she is a universally recognizable icon that exemplifies the controlling images used by society to dictate Asian female identity. This is characterized by cuteness, meekness, submissiveness, and a playfulness that can be interpreted as provocative, blurring the line between innocence, vulnerability, infantilization, and sexuality. Stereotypes are not false, rather they are an arrested representation of a changing reality. By employing pop culture icons rooted in systemic patriarchy to highlight the intersectionality of being a minority female, I hope to advance this changing reality. I view this as an act of defiance, taking back a symbol of oppression to create a counter narrative that serves to empower Asian females. Ultimately, I view my work as a nostalgic and whimsical, yet mischievous way of documenting where women, particularly immigrant women, are placed within a societally prescribed racial framework. I hope to initiate discourse about this reality to validate our collective experiences and raise awareness about the continual existence of these issues.

Artist's CV - Priscilla Lo

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