As a part of reflective personal experience as well as the continuation to develop a series of works that try to spark conversation and reflection towards intergenerational issues through personal /family stories with archival materials, such as documents, photographs or an artifact, Chen’s residency project works with the community from Lanesboro to continue dialogue and conversation about intergenerational issues that they encounter here in the States and compare with her experiences from the East to create a series of work.
Chen will create an artist book and installation derived from Lanesboro as a place and community that explores generational exchange and tension. She will also incorporate her own experiences as a Taiwanese national currently residing in a Western country. Chen will utilize a range of methods, including language, literature, photography, documentation and archival materials to explore “what is lost (unintentional) or omitted (intentional) during generational exchange.”
The residency will culminate in a Virtual Work-in-Progress Capstone event sharing the launch of a blog website chronicling the stories and photos Chen will collect during her residency. It’s also an opportunity for community members to exchange thoughts, ideas, feedback and other conversation.
Come and learn more about the stories from the community through this great community project!
About Wen-Li Chen
Wen-Li Chen lives and works in St. Paul, Minnesota since 2015 after relocating from Taiwan.
She is an emerging visual artist as well as an experienced independent communication designer who works with artists and art spaces closely in book or print form. Recently commissioned works include The Sheer Of Aboutlessness Of Being (artist book collaborated with Twin Cities-based artists Charles Manson Lume and Andy Sturdevant, 2018) and making another upcoming artist book collaborated with Charles Manson Lume again along with another two female artists/poets from Twin Cities.
Wen-Li has shown her works internationally in the UK, Singapore, USA, Canada, and Taiwan. Recent and forthcoming solo exhibitions and group exhibitions include Belonging at Northfield Arts Guild Gallery (2020), Wisp at FOGSTAND Gallery (2019), To My Unborn Child at Richmond Art Gallery (2018), Untitled 14 at SOO VAC (2018). She recently receives an opportunity of an artist residency program from Lanesboro Arts (August 2020) that is an art organization focus on community-based projects in rural areas. She was a semi-finalist for Jerome Early Career Fellowship (2018-2019) and shortlist for Taipei Biennale in Taiwan (2015-2016).