白天鵝 / White Swan (BFA Senior Thesis)

白天鵝 / White Swan On September 9, 2003, I first met my mother at The White Swan Hotel. This moment, captured on a series of HI-8 tapes documenting my adoption, was filled with mixed emotions. I was torn from one life and placed into another. Though I have no memory of that day, my installation, White Swan, offers an opportunity to re-experience it through these tapes. As of September 2024, China has ended overseas adoptions, and as one of the last generation adopted out of China, this project explores my sense of identity and belonging within a community that is no longer growing. Through this work, I aim to express the complexities of being both part of and apart from the world I came from. Using laser-cut acrylic, I engraved these moments of first connection with my mother as a way to etch it into permanence. The exhibit is on display from 02/07/2025 - 05/17/2025 in the NYU Gulf + Western Gallery located on the ground floor of the Tisch building.