Application for Naturalization
Artist
Bovey Lee
(Chinese, born 1969)
Date2016
MediumPhoto transfer and cut paper
DimensionsUnframed: 20 1/2 x 26 3/4 in. (52.1 x 67.9 cm)
ClassificationsSculpture
Credit LinePurchased with funds from the Ellingson Family
Object number2022.13.1
Label TextIn this series of papercuts, Bovey Lee captures her anxiety as an immigrant, a woman, and a person of color in the United States. Lee kept her immigration documentation for over a decade, despite having been reassured that saving these papers was unnecessary. Unable to part with this proof of her citizenship, Lee has kept these stacks of papers as one keeps photographs, for a sense of self, for proof of the past, and as an anchor indicating safe harbor. In this work, Lee transforms one of these documents into a seascape - a symbol of change and movement - to suggest a feeling of uncertainty and capture the long journey she took to come to the U.S. Status
On viewLocation
- Beckman Hall (1 University Drive), Floor 4, 400 Corridor
