LEAVINGS/BELONGINGS At the Pao Arts Center

Boston MA

Yu-Wen Wu 2018-2019 Artist in Residence
Exhibition May 23 to August 23 2019

Human migration is a defining issue of this century. Within the global community, record numbers of people are being displaced as the result of armed conflicts, human rights abuse, economic deprivation and adverse effects of climate change. People continue to cross borders and to relocate in search of safety and a decent life.

Yu-Wen Wu was the 2018-2019 Artist in Residence at the Pao Arts Center (Boston Neighborhood Chinese Centers). This new center is of particular significance because it is built on a remaining site where hundreds of Syrian and Asian immigrant homes were demolished in the 1960’s to build a state highway.

Over her seven month artist residency period, over 150 community members have participated in the Leavings/Belongings project. Participants created symbolic cloth-wrapped bundles while sharing stories about their own and their family’s immigration journeys. These bundles represent what is left behind and what may be carried in migration – survival, hope and dreams. Collected throughout Wu's residency, this exhibition at Pao includes photographs of many of the participants, and two site specific sculptural installation of the bundles. One installation rests 5’ high in the corner, the other creates a 25’ path recalling lines of exodus, lines of waiting, lines of hope to a better future. Lines Severed, a 7:52’ video is the first chapter of a series of migration stories. Through the act of making together, participants share their narratives of migration, generating dialogue that bridge across experience, generations, and ethnicity.

LEAVINGS/BELONGINGS is a durational project.

In 'Leavings/Belongings,' Artist Yu-Wen Wu Explores Women's Stories of Displacement
Wbur; the ARTery; Pamela Reynolds