Magic Mirrors

EDITION

2023, Shortlisted

school

University of Nebraska-Lincoln, United States

Links

jamie-ho.com
@jamiehophoto

When a beam of bright light hits the convex and polished surface, an image is reflected back onto the wall. This is a description of a magic mirror, an object from the Han Dynasy (206 BC - 24 AD) and one that is synonymous with how Euro-America views China: both technically advanced and shrouded in mystery. Like magic mirrors, the GIFs I create generate mirror images, an alternate world that highlights the ways rituals are both private and public and the ways my body cannot fit into the impossibility of euro-centric beauty standards.

Through GIFs, photography, sound, and installation, I use the aesthetics of Camp, the lighting studio, theatre-esque curtains, and spotlights to stage drag performances that confront audiences’ understanding of queerness and gender. My work explores the long-term impact of assimilation through simulating and subverting my ancestral Chinese traditions and rituals and references historical Chinese objects as a method of reimagining connections to my ancestral roots. Though I’m inspired by Chinese historical objects, ancestral traditions, and current experiences within Chinese diaspora, my work is future facing. Like a magic mirror, I’m building a reality where the horizon is infinite and absurdly beautiful - absent of these pressures to conform to societal constructs that are white, heteronormative, and able-bodied. I’m creating an alternate place to not just exist freely and safely, but also to have joy and humor and play.