MCAD MFA alum Sieng Lee was selected for the 2014/2015 Jerome Foundation Fellowships for Emerging Artists.
Lee’s work addresses the tens of thousands of Hmong who were left behind after the United States withdrew from military conflict in Vietnam, Cambodia, and Laos in 1975. Those Hmong who had aided the United States in their efforts were forced to leave their homeland, and many did not survive the journey. Those that reached the United States faced restrictive policies that continue to impact their communities.
Jane Blocker, essayist for the Jerome catalog, writes that for Lee, “the supposed distance between the artist and the category of the political is a privilege afforded to white men… but not those considered to be racial or ethnic Others.”
Lee’s installation is made from thousands of folded spirit money papers, spilling from a container onto what appears to be the legs of a collapsed man. It was displayed in the main gallery as part of the Jerome Exhibition from October 2 through November 8, 2015.
For more information visit the MCAD exhibition page, Jerome Foundation, and http://www.sienglee.com/
