Shapeshifting Through Time
Exhibition review of A Glittering Gem is Not Enough by Kendra Yee
Mirror Mirror Gallery, 2020
The works in A Glittering Gem are fluid; seemingly frozen in the process of formation, yet also entirely whole. Yee tells me of her life-long fascination with demons and how she always believed they were merely misunderstood. "'Demons are both good and evil, human and not human,' she says. 'They navigate the in-betweens, and a lot of my practice relies on existing within that state of the ‘in-between.’ As a biracial person of mixed identity, I’m continually combining two different cultural perspectives into one idea, and demons were always there to embody this experience through their shapeshifting.'”
Transformations can be found everywhere in Yee’s work through visual parallels and repetitions that are never quite precise in their mirror image. She often illustrates loose forms and repeats shapes over and over again, creating idiosyncratic characters throughout her practice. “They’re like time-markers.” In the way stories are kaleidoscopic, cracking into different variations at different moments, Yee replicates the same shapes to carve out a period of time — and with it, an imprint of oneself. “And when you’re ready to move on, you prescribe yourself to a new character.”