Cocoon

Warmth, protection, growth, metamorphosis. Yet, a shell; a husk discarded once the creature has successfully. ‘Cocoon’ is a series that seeks to explore vulnerability and the journey of identifying the self in a space that one may or may not call home.

Our cocoon is made up of stories,
hints of nostalgia imbedded in certain smells,

actions or words,
and sometimes only feeling
but not knowing.

My cocoon is made up of things
we never spoke about
and don’t speak of anymore,

a familiarity which has no root or place
to return to when certain people go,
but also faith in what
you don’t fully understand.

Through the metaphor of the cocoon and the camera, I contemplate the ‘Asian diasporic experience’ via collecting environmental portraits of individuals within self-constructed cocoons, in their homes and private space.

“I have struggled to prove myself into existence” wrote Cathy Park Hong in Minor Feelings (2020), about her own experience of being Asian-American. Reflecting on the often-invisible experience shared by the Asian diaspora in the West, Cocoon tries to make tangible and collective our existence.

Stories of immigration; of sacrifice; of isolation; and of resilience. The cocoon could not be a more appropriate metaphor — encapsulating the duality, as well as the loneliness of the Asian diasporic experience.

Inviting strangers and friends who identify with the Asian diaspora - whether in Australia or the United States or living within Asia - I, as a Chinese-Australian photographer, create a space for them to be vulnerable and visible.

In accompaniment to these images is a soundscape, made in collaboration with Sydney-producer Jackson Fester. Utilising field recordings I have collected, we used tape loops and synth chords to build a soundtrack, in hopes of bringing the complex emotions in the photographs to life.