'The Fortunes', Screen Print, 12.5''x19'' (16''x20'' with border), 2018
My piece was inspired directly by the rich descriptions of landscape and experience given in the first portion of the book, The Fortunes (Gold). I found the recurrent theme of ‘seeing the elephant’ striking and have used an elephant as the central focus in my piece, comprising almost the whole of the train’s window frame. To ‘see the elephant’ is the complicated realization that gaining something desired (to have ‘seen it all’, ’the mother lode') may come at a significant cost, to both personal identity and to the larger culture. This much anticipated and sought after ‘elephant’ may not glitter as gold in reality, often leaving the viewer disappointed or disenchanted. This is an overarching theme for the protagonist, Ah Ling, as he adjusts to life in America.
The elephant in the piece is visually ‘built’ so to speak with Davies’ imagery, much surrounding the descriptions of the Chinese immigrants, himself and those who were building the railroads. I hope the piece honors the author’s story while also connecting to many of our current issues surrounding immigration in America. With recent raids on immigrant workers, detention camps, and talk of tent cities for housing the children of immigrants, the parallels I see between then and now are many.
Within the elephant and its surroundings is a plethora of imagery, all drawn from Davies’ writing. I’ve included both upper class American visuals (flocked wallpaper, chandeliers, pocket watches) and visuals from Chinese identities (queue, incense, kite patterns, wallpaper patterns) as well as from the working class Chinese experience (tent cities, rock walls, trains, men in hanging baskets, overcrowding). With these inclusions, I hope to convey the contradictory nature of America - at once both that bigger than life myth which glitters, racing forward and at the same time, something much more complicated, difficult, and harsh.
Variations on this design are available in multiple colors.
