One Nation

APRIL 2015

Artist Statement (from https://startgallery.wfu.edu/exhibitions/kristiana-chan-one-nation/ )

“Where are you from?” A question benign as any other on the surface, but one that carries with it implications and assumptions that have always caused me to take pause. This question, posed to most people, typically prompts a response of a hometown or state. But my replies of “Charlotte, North Carolina,” never seemed to satisfy, and would be met with a look of skepticism, polite smile, and tilt of the head, as if indicating a joke I did not feel a part of. “No, but where are you from? What are you?”

In this exhibit, I  explore the “whitening” effects that assimilation into American culture requests of non-white Americans. I present the consequences of cultural erasure  and create a multi sensory experience for the viewer through audio and video site specific installation. Through sound collage, projected video installations, and experimental painting I create a space that mimics the confusion and tension of liminality, a space that is neither native nor foreign, a space that is home to many but that neither nation will claim.

Names to Faces:

Nikiar Ahmadi
Betlihem Ayalew
Alysha Aziz
Andrea Becker
Dineth Bandarage
Cami Burruss
Randy Diaz
Alisha Giri
Alish Giri
Adeolou Ilesanmi
Tala Khatib
Jim Le
Amen Okundaye
Shahani Samarasekera
Amee Uphadyay
Dion Uwayo
Julia Zhang

Special Thanks:
The Wake Forest University Department of Art and Art History
KC Chan and Patricia Lim
START Gallery


Nations Represented:
Burma
Canada
Cuba
Ethiopia
India
Iran
Israel
Malaysia
Mexico
Nepal
Nigeria
Pakistan
Palestine
Rwanda
Sri Lanka
United States of America
Vietnam

Languages Represented:
Amharic
Arabic
Benin
English
Farsi
French
Hindi
Sinhala
Spanish
Swahili
Malay
Nepali
Urdu
Vietnamese
Yoruba