Root
Temperature thermometers, frame20” x 6”
2019
This gallery you are in is 75°F, it’s also the temperature we prefer to setup in your car or house. The two temperature thermometers have the same brand and manufacturer, but when I took away their scales, the two red tubes indicate different heights. They are no longer measurement tools, instead, they need to be remeasured. After people suffered discrimination and misunderstanding due to color, race, identity and whatsoever, I found myself connected with poet Cao Zhi (192 - 232) who was a prince during the Three Kingdoms period of China. After his father passed away, he was constantly ostracized and almost put to death by his elder brother Cao Pi due to empire power struggle. He recited:
“Cooking beans on a fire of beanstalks,
The beans weep in the pot.
Born of the same roots,
Why the eagerness to destroy one another?”
Installation view at the Gretchen Schuette Art Gallery