In Fall 2025, I had a solo exhibition Dwell at Direktorenhaus Museum of Art, Craft & Design in Berlin, Germany. The work was presented in two separate two adjoining rooms. Upon entering the first room, the viewer encounters a series of five groupings of ceramic spoons hanging on the wall. Each group of the roughhewn spoons is shaped and colored differently. Spoons are what we use to eat our sustenance and by extension are a symbol of what sustain us. In the second room, the viewer comes upon a series of bricks hanging on the wall, which serve as a metaphor for how we actively construct a sense of place. The soft light from the large windows in the gallery brings out the subtle, muted colors of each piece.

By presenting these mundane objects in a different context, it causes us to rethink our relationship to them. “Defamiliarization” is the process of making common things appear strange to renew perception, a term first coined by Russian literary theorist and critic Viktor Shklovsky. Similarly, I take these familiar forms and give them a little bit of wobble. By recontextualizing the mundane, my artwork prompts us to reflect on our connections to these objects and the concepts they represent.