Resilience

• Fri, Aug 30, 2024 - Sat, Nov 16, 2024  9am - 5pm On View
• Friday, Oct 4, 2024  6:30pm - 7:30pm Artist Talk

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Resilience, a new installation by Michelle Vo at the TANK Space at Spring Street Studios, explores social connections, focusing on the artist’s relationship with her grandmother and the shared human experience of death. Making use of the TANK's vitrine, the installation features a mirrored infinity box within an arched stained glass mosaic, accompanied by a lotus-motif stained glass mosaic panel. Vo also includes a live floral bouquet that illustrates the ephemeral process of decay over time.

The lotus flower, significant in Vietnamese culture, is valued for its practical uses and symbolic representation of strength and resilience. For the stained glass design, Vo draws inspiration from a Vietnamese saying: “Even though the lotus rises from the mud, it cannot be tainted by its humble birthplace.” Within the artist's design, this sentiment reflects the shared journey from uncertainty to the hopeful glow of acceptance, with the setting sun symbolizing the end of one day and the promise of another. Resilience highlights Vo's Vietnamese heritage and is deeply connected to memories of her grandmother, who was a crucial source of creativity and a role model. Through this new work, Vo pays tribute to her grandmother's selflessness, patience, and resilience while addressing the profound nature of death in a beautiful manner.

Michelle Vo, an artist in residence at Mother Dog Studios, creates representational illustrations that celebrate and underscore the significance of emotional health in vibrant ways. Her work features colorful details like wavy lines, dots, and symbolic shapes, used as a visual language for its dual nature to be both simple individually and complex when combined collectively. She is fascinated by the versatility of bringing her illustrations to life through stained glass, as well as by tackling the design challenges of color placement, light transmission, and visual movement.

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