on eating terms

In the Vietnamese Cinderella variant folk tale Tấm Cám, Tấm has a companion goby fish whom her stepmother butchers out of cruelty. When the royal festival comes, it is her goby’s bones which the buddha fashions into Tấm’s attire and transport so she could attend. What remains of past grief and kinship becomes material for new joy.

‍on eating terms meditates on how histories of love and loss could nurture new life. I sculpt bonelike forms out of paper clay and finish them with eyeshadow and turmeric, as precious and whimsical bodily tokens with a capacity to heal. Scattered on the floor, they promise to transform the space of lack into one of abundant possibility, to make tangible what we wish for.