Chinese Fever, 2007

As installed at Chinese Arts Centre (Manchester, UK), 6.09 x 5.49  Paper m.

Chinese Fever (2007-08) is a wall installation made up of gold paper and fabric cutouts, inspired by chinoiserie motifs, the Beijing Summer Olympics, the Tibetan conflict, recent health scares, and scandals over Chinese imports. The fear of “Yellow Peril,” of the unknown and unfamiliar, today, while not virulent, is reflected in talk shows, news reports, and blogs. As negative attitudes towards the Chinese are on the rise, we also see a return of the exotic “Far East” in Western popular culture, along with the use of related terms such as “Oriental,” which emerged during the British colonial and imperial past. In the interests of universal freedom and human rights, valued highly in the West and at times forced upon other cultures, what are some strategies of open dialogue and exchange that can be adopted without falling back on violence, name-calling, and hyprocrisy?