Jiayi Liang https://liangjiayiart.com Jiayi Liang Mon, 27 Jul 2026 21:56:15 +0000 https://liangjiayiart.com en home https://liangjiayiart.com/home Fri, 09 Jun 2023 05:51:58 +0000 Jiayi Liang https://liangjiayiart.com/home <img width="5184" height="3456" width_o="5184" height_o="3456" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/db35f941884d6f33ed1918eba5bcae0316328421c5a4b0b11ed96870fa47de96/IMG_9592-copy.jpg" data-mid="248747238" border="0" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/db35f941884d6f33ed1918eba5bcae0316328421c5a4b0b11ed96870fa47de96/IMG_9592-copy.jpg" /> <img width="8549" height="5724" width_o="8549" height_o="5724" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/caa57e1821dd867b32ad6dfa28ced93421160ccb4ce1b92efb1467ac79737ef2/LIANG_113-copy.jpg" data-mid="248746880" border="0" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/caa57e1821dd867b32ad6dfa28ced93421160ccb4ce1b92efb1467ac79737ef2/LIANG_113-copy.jpg" /> <img width="2880" height="1616" width_o="2880" height_o="1616" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/3cf1a37c2c98f279a505b4c9e0e74757512cee390151022ab0d2e3b6cfbd4a74/Screen-Shot-2026-04-08-at-11.55.03-AM.png" data-mid="248700761" border="0" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/3cf1a37c2c98f279a505b4c9e0e74757512cee390151022ab0d2e3b6cfbd4a74/Screen-Shot-2026-04-08-at-11.55.03-AM.png" /> <img width="4346" height="2897" width_o="4346" height_o="2897" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/c5f7bc8a169e80cfcf060ac4235b2973b6ad97e48b12ee4368a9799ebce20aa0/IMG_0450-copy2.jpg" data-mid="248696419" border="0" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/c5f7bc8a169e80cfcf060ac4235b2973b6ad97e48b12ee4368a9799ebce20aa0/IMG_0450-copy2.jpg" /> bio https://liangjiayiart.com/bio Tue, 24 Aug 2021 06:22:49 +0000 Jiayi Liang https://liangjiayiart.com/bio &nbsp; Jiayi Liang is a Chinese lens-based artist and filmmaker working across constructed photography, collage installation, animation, and experimental moving image. Rooted in diasporic experience, her practice examines migration, grief, colonial memory, and the representation of East Asian women through fragmented photographic environments and hybrid image-making processes. Drawing from family archives, Western landscape painting, performance, and paper-based reconstruction, Liang uses cutting, repetition, and physical labor as both visual strategies and methods of processing memory, distance, and inherited histories. Her recent work explores how images construct systems of visibility, identity, and belonging. Through staged installations, tactile animation, and speculative narratives, she investigates the entanglement of landscape, migration, gendered labor, and intergenerational memory within East Asian diasporic experience. Influenced by Homi K. Bhabha’s concept of the Third Space, her work creates unstable visual environments where personal and collective histories can be dismantled, reconstructed, and continuously renegotiated. Liang received her MFA in Photography + Film from Virginia Commonwealth University in 2026, an MA from University of Iowa in 2024, and a BFA in Studio Art from University of New Mexico in 2020. Her work has been exhibited nationally and internationally, including at the Institute for Contemporary Art, Candela Books + Gallery, Public Space One, and the International Center of Photography. She has also presented her research and practice at the Society for Photographic Education conference. News https://liangjiayiart.com/News Fri, 17 May 2024 22:16:22 +0000 Jiayi Liang https://liangjiayiart.com/News &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp;<img width="1080" height="1350" width_o="1080" height_o="1350" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/3b60e71e3842f6390ff48258587d39ace317d32c0ef0d7185677e64ac9c325c3/jiayi-film-poster-ins-size.jpg" data-mid="248735924" border="0" data-scale="42" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/3b60e71e3842f6390ff48258587d39ace317d32c0ef0d7185677e64ac9c325c3/jiayi-film-poster-ins-size.jpg" />&nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp;<img width="1080" height="1350" width_o="1080" height_o="1350" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/4f755032dfa4a77d8d7d3241f07d1358d83497ff3d86d1945a7ff07db08c5f50/poster-ins-size-1.jpg" data-mid="248735922" border="0" data-scale="42" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/4f755032dfa4a77d8d7d3241f07d1358d83497ff3d86d1945a7ff07db08c5f50/poster-ins-size-1.jpg" />&nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp;(Posters design by Yuan Xin) &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp;<img width="3967" height="2828" width_o="3967" height_o="2828" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/c92ebec01e4e59c63791abd30f20fc55f01ed81969013beb53685b1f51482c50/for-website.jpg" data-mid="211159680" border="0" data-scale="86" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/c92ebec01e4e59c63791abd30f20fc55f01ed81969013beb53685b1f51482c50/for-website.jpg" /> info https://liangjiayiart.com/info Thu, 15 Jun 2023 01:23:52 +0000 Jiayi Liang https://liangjiayiart.com/info Jiayi Liang Email: jiayiliang.art@gmail.com Instagram: sobbingscorpiooCV available upon request. ✧(ಢ‸ಢ) https://liangjiayiart.com/38410895 Mon, 25 May 2026 14:34:47 +0000 Jiayi Liang https://liangjiayiart.com/38410895 &nbsp; Thanks for your support ✧(ಢ‸ಢ) <img width="894" height="1099" width_o="894" height_o="1099" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/326ecf85163ba15bbec76bbf2a87022c592f9fe4ce9c7a80e076c02c60d60879/Your-Venmo-QRC-Kit-copy.png" data-mid="248722410" border="0" data-scale="37" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/894/i/326ecf85163ba15bbec76bbf2a87022c592f9fe4ce9c7a80e076c02c60d60879/Your-Venmo-QRC-Kit-copy.png" /> Until We Meet Again https://liangjiayiart.com/Until-We-Meet-Again-1 Sun, 24 May 2026 19:32:26 +0000 Jiayi Liang https://liangjiayiart.com/Until-We-Meet-Again-1 Until We Meet Again (2026) Experimental film, 8mins Starring: Shanmu Sun Additional cameras: David Handforth, Laneecia Ricks (LA) Until We Meet Again is a speculative documentary that combines live-action performance, stop-motion animation, and analogue photographic processes to explore grief, migration, memory, and intergenerational relationships within East Asian families. The film began after the passing of my grandmother in 2025, when my father mailed me a package containing her belongings. In the film, this package becomes the point of departure for a dreamlike journey between memory and reality. The film follows a granddaughter who repeatedly dreams of her grandmother returning in the form of a monarch butterfly. Guided by this imagined presence, she moves through fragmented memories, ritual gestures, and moments of reflection as she attempts to reconnect across distance and loss. The monarch butterfly’s multigenerational migration serves as a guiding metaphor throughout the film. Traveling across vast distances over several generations, its movement becomes a way to think through diaspora, inherited memory, and the uncertain process of finding connection across time and space. Through voiceover and tactile imagery, the film reflects on how love and care are often expressed indirectly in my family through labor, routine, and everyday gestures rather than spoken language. Alongside 16mm footage and live-action scenes, many sequences are constructed frame by frame by hand using printed photographs, paper cutouts, scanning, and reassembly. This fragile and repetitive process mirrors the emotional structure of the work itself, where acts of making become a way of holding grief, distance, and remembrance together. <img width="2880" height="1620" width_o="2880" height_o="1620" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/b255dba278a7640a0bfc2b59c9b7feafd7b447f05c2ce45e38b9a3699c45b27b/Screen-Shot-2026-04-08-at-11.05.42-AM.png" data-mid="248700708" border="0" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/b255dba278a7640a0bfc2b59c9b7feafd7b447f05c2ce45e38b9a3699c45b27b/Screen-Shot-2026-04-08-at-11.05.42-AM.png" /> <img width="2880" height="1616" width_o="2880" height_o="1616" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/3cf1a37c2c98f279a505b4c9e0e74757512cee390151022ab0d2e3b6cfbd4a74/Screen-Shot-2026-04-08-at-11.55.03-AM.png" data-mid="248700668" border="0" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/3cf1a37c2c98f279a505b4c9e0e74757512cee390151022ab0d2e3b6cfbd4a74/Screen-Shot-2026-04-08-at-11.55.03-AM.png" /> <img width="2880" height="1617" width_o="2880" height_o="1617" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/1f564766380723e8f7228698d4747817b43c734ed62d3487b80e920ab4400978/Screen-Shot-2026-04-08-at-11.55.36-AM.png" data-mid="248700698" border="0" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/1f564766380723e8f7228698d4747817b43c734ed62d3487b80e920ab4400978/Screen-Shot-2026-04-08-at-11.55.36-AM.png" /> <img width="2880" height="1617" width_o="2880" height_o="1617" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/0a59b5e854a2946c497463d9de8507a248c613292f7ff804df0e26565508355c/Screen-Shot-2026-04-08-at-11.53.28-AM.png" data-mid="248700667" border="0" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/0a59b5e854a2946c497463d9de8507a248c613292f7ff804df0e26565508355c/Screen-Shot-2026-04-08-at-11.53.28-AM.png" /> <img width="2880" height="1622" width_o="2880" height_o="1622" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/b0aa534245af6ef513bcebb86e55ab41b705100ca84d152371d008b31d52ed95/Screen-Shot-2026-04-08-at-11.08.52-AM.png" data-mid="248700669" border="0" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/b0aa534245af6ef513bcebb86e55ab41b705100ca84d152371d008b31d52ed95/Screen-Shot-2026-04-08-at-11.08.52-AM.png" /> Film still from Until We Meet Again / 不说再见, 2026Experimental film, 8 minutes Screening https://liangjiayiart.com/Screening Sun, 24 May 2026 19:31:22 +0000 Jiayi Liang https://liangjiayiart.com/Screening <img width="2999" height="2000" width_o="2999" height_o="2000" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/a23538f3a06cac0d68cf5c0b505bdfc94b2ef997f7a39279a0b0ed5cb8ec8981/40054_Hi-res-.jpg" data-mid="248722441" border="0" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/a23538f3a06cac0d68cf5c0b505bdfc94b2ef997f7a39279a0b0ed5cb8ec8981/40054_Hi-res-.jpg" />VCUarts 2026 MFA Screenings at ICA Richmond, hosted by Egbert Vongmalaithong. All photographs by Keshia Eugene. <img width="3000" height="2000" width_o="3000" height_o="2000" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/eff4b821deeff820a744149ddcffa86230a54444310147f2d91e88739b123403/40134_Hi-res-.jpg" data-mid="248722449" border="0" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/eff4b821deeff820a744149ddcffa86230a54444310147f2d91e88739b123403/40134_Hi-res-.jpg" /> <img width="3000" height="2000" width_o="3000" height_o="2000" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/7e198bcd76818b1298cbcfe6bc1eb17bcdfd4dc070d0d4d32ef46fbabc394b04/40138_Hi-res-.jpg" data-mid="248722450" border="0" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/7e198bcd76818b1298cbcfe6bc1eb17bcdfd4dc070d0d4d32ef46fbabc394b04/40138_Hi-res-.jpg" /> <img width="1666" height="2499" width_o="1666" height_o="2499" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/cafc8b40e023b56c2cd323baf5220ea9ce911db16f4652fd49444131f8b27ee3/40055_Hi-res-.jpg" data-mid="248722442" border="0" data-scale="100" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/cafc8b40e023b56c2cd323baf5220ea9ce911db16f4652fd49444131f8b27ee3/40055_Hi-res-.jpg" /> <img width="3000" height="2000" width_o="3000" height_o="2000" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/8fe5efd2bbcb8f7db74f3a5b275f4c4cf698a9e3b01c5d93b54f47284beec7e2/40067_Hi-res-.jpg" data-mid="248722446" border="0" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/8fe5efd2bbcb8f7db74f3a5b275f4c4cf698a9e3b01c5d93b54f47284beec7e2/40067_Hi-res-.jpg" /> <img width="3000" height="2000" width_o="3000" height_o="2000" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/a01fbd48f477c6a1f626d900c465c370a9472e372261bf98fc1a7e7cc5595299/40081_Hi-res-.jpg" data-mid="248722447" border="0" data-scale="59" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/a01fbd48f477c6a1f626d900c465c370a9472e372261bf98fc1a7e7cc5595299/40081_Hi-res-.jpg" />&nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp;&nbsp;<img width="1666" height="2499" width_o="1666" height_o="2499" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/855ad03f00045df1e2cc4cbc64d31a546ef97f7ae30f07fbdcc6024b6e8cac2d/40060_Hi-res-.jpg" data-mid="248722444" border="0" data-scale="27" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/855ad03f00045df1e2cc4cbc64d31a546ef97f7ae30f07fbdcc6024b6e8cac2d/40060_Hi-res-.jpg" /> <img width="3000" height="2000" width_o="3000" height_o="2000" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/adadbe0ce7f9872c4c391ee78a83cd12c7a1e3993df1135e5151d7e484a69d4d/40131_Hi-res-.jpg" data-mid="248722448" border="0" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/adadbe0ce7f9872c4c391ee78a83cd12c7a1e3993df1135e5151d7e484a69d4d/40131_Hi-res-.jpg" /> Unfinished Letter https://liangjiayiart.com/Unfinished-Letter Sun, 24 May 2026 19:32:53 +0000 Jiayi Liang https://liangjiayiart.com/Unfinished-Letter <img width="1803" height="2512" width_o="1803" height_o="2512" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/00ffa6c24d47284d45bae50b7ace1203764d9acead4d0d27f2b788ea817a4266/IMG_9436-copy.png" data-mid="248870840" border="0" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/00ffa6c24d47284d45bae50b7ace1203764d9acead4d0d27f2b788ea817a4266/IMG_9436-copy.png" /> <img width="1809" height="2461" width_o="1809" height_o="2461" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/52ed4f9fee58c5cabff294d2ba9652691f64620a0ea414ac4976bb9eba88b265/IMG_9434-copy.png" data-mid="248871338" border="0" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/52ed4f9fee58c5cabff294d2ba9652691f64620a0ea414ac4976bb9eba88b265/IMG_9434-copy.png" /> <img width="1980" height="2650" width_o="1980" height_o="2650" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/ee090545534a41e35bd16547ece2830bd90e058aea285b158ab85e5596f96eae/IMG_9430-copy.png" data-mid="248939895" border="0" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/ee090545534a41e35bd16547ece2830bd90e058aea285b158ab85e5596f96eae/IMG_9430-copy.png" /> <img width="1334" height="1880" width_o="1334" height_o="1880" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/784c644b3167d654dd27a074bf77c02b76779c90c24ab9cd7e3a77ce7d7e7db1/IMG_9426-copy.png" data-mid="248939891" border="0" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/784c644b3167d654dd27a074bf77c02b76779c90c24ab9cd7e3a77ce7d7e7db1/IMG_9426-copy.png" /> <img width="1801" height="2424" width_o="1801" height_o="2424" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/8136ef6843728ffb9206d437d1187490637157c9334a3c175e0c0128af2b76c0/IMG_9428-copy.png" data-mid="248939893" border="0" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/8136ef6843728ffb9206d437d1187490637157c9334a3c175e0c0128af2b76c0/IMG_9428-copy.png" /> <img width="1707" height="2303" width_o="1707" height_o="2303" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/6cb922dbbf9c6ebed4db72a7b0fbead07c05820d1e344d29aa9bd5f6ba06cddf/IMG_9427-copy.png" data-mid="248939892" border="0" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/6cb922dbbf9c6ebed4db72a7b0fbead07c05820d1e344d29aa9bd5f6ba06cddf/IMG_9427-copy.png" /> <img width="1972" height="2671" width_o="1972" height_o="2671" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/2abca73f4e04dd44bd9e4a96faaf54b57585a44d6012eb9156f46b6c21d54c0a/IMG_9435-copy.png" data-mid="248939906" border="0" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/2abca73f4e04dd44bd9e4a96faaf54b57585a44d6012eb9156f46b6c21d54c0a/IMG_9435-copy.png" /> <img width="1733" height="2423" width_o="1733" height_o="2423" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/38e5f8aa03ce5756a0463fbe1cf04fad78ebbf7bc7782d5d0e4fa87b2dbc7087/IMG_9429-copy.png" data-mid="248939894" border="0" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/38e5f8aa03ce5756a0463fbe1cf04fad78ebbf7bc7782d5d0e4fa87b2dbc7087/IMG_9429-copy.png" /> <img width="1929" height="2613" width_o="1929" height_o="2613" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/6fe4e543a4b0c79476e5adb0cf639b4a89dd25397e582fa170b878b8791f6bd3/IMG_9439-copy.png" data-mid="248736118" border="0" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/6fe4e543a4b0c79476e5adb0cf639b4a89dd25397e582fa170b878b8791f6bd3/IMG_9439-copy.png" /> <img width="1700" height="2307" width_o="1700" height_o="2307" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/56a1a96f4d0646ac9638aa8c41d114f8690f60b687b9a6e3486b38928f4bf452/IMG_9438-copy.png" data-mid="248939926" border="0" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/56a1a96f4d0646ac9638aa8c41d114f8690f60b687b9a6e3486b38928f4bf452/IMG_9438-copy.png" /> Installation https://liangjiayiart.com/Installation-1 Sun, 24 May 2026 13:55:01 +0000 Jiayi Liang https://liangjiayiart.com/Installation-1 <img width="9120" height="6080" width_o="9120" height_o="6080" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/2706b8ce22dacb200cb574c25c40200cfb009f470ed8874b6da8c22b33d21f6c/LIANG_133-copy.jpg" data-mid="248686945" border="0" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/2706b8ce22dacb200cb574c25c40200cfb009f470ed8874b6da8c22b33d21f6c/LIANG_133-copy.jpg" />Installation view, Institute for Contemporary Art at Virginia Commonwealth University, 2026. Photo by David Hale<img width="7304" height="5478" width_o="7304" height_o="5478" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/5a0756b582473cab36fe8cf3f52e21d010631c19e6da2b2765bd1c98d2a2d2ba/B0018818-1-copy.jpg" data-mid="249657428" border="0" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/5a0756b582473cab36fe8cf3f52e21d010631c19e6da2b2765bd1c98d2a2d2ba/B0018818-1-copy.jpg" />In Whose Moral Universe?, 2026. Five-panel photographic installation with large-scale wall vinyl collage constructed from fragments of American frontier and colonial myth paintings. Installation view at ICA Richmond.<img width="9060" height="6040" width_o="9060" height_o="6040" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/215b4758b74dd5dcd1b786a9e6c07ab0e91b838eb97ed9dea13137fa4b0e89eb/LIANG_116-copy.jpg" data-mid="249657365" border="0" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/215b4758b74dd5dcd1b786a9e6c07ab0e91b838eb97ed9dea13137fa4b0e89eb/LIANG_116-copy.jpg" /> <img width="1500" height="1000" width_o="1500" height_o="1000" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/3cc34d2b299ce10313ef9407de5287e0e37001200f36e79a0dbb9a665e08880a/installation02_JL.jpg" data-mid="248686889" border="0" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/3cc34d2b299ce10313ef9407de5287e0e37001200f36e79a0dbb9a665e08880a/installation02_JL.jpg" /> Installation detail, In Whose Moral Universe?, 2026. <img width="8549" height="5724" width_o="8549" height_o="5724" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/caa57e1821dd867b32ad6dfa28ced93421160ccb4ce1b92efb1467ac79737ef2/LIANG_113-copy.jpg" data-mid="248696196" border="0" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/caa57e1821dd867b32ad6dfa28ced93421160ccb4ce1b92efb1467ac79737ef2/LIANG_113-copy.jpg" />Installation view, left: Meditation, 2025; right: Embracing Practice, 2026. Statement https://liangjiayiart.com/Statement Mon, 27 Jul 2026 21:56:15 +0000 Jiayi Liang https://liangjiayiart.com/Statement My work constructs fragmented photographic environments where cultural memory, archival histories, and speculative reconstruction converge. Through these liminal spaces, I examine how diaspora experience reshapes identity, memory, and belonging across generations. Rooted in Homi K. Bhabha's concept of the Third Space, my practice spans photography, collage, installation, animation, and moving image, creating hybrid visual environments where inherited histories can be dismantled, reconstructed, and continually renegotiated. Using photography, collage installation, and sculptural paper cutouts, I create faceless representations of my body to examine how patriarchal systems have objectified, silenced, and erased Asian women. Embedded within these reconstructed images are questions posed to Chinese women by U.S. consular officials enforcing the Page Act of 1875, legislation that restricted the immigration of Chinese women through racialized assumptions of prostitution and moral character. By incorporating these archival texts directly into the photographic surface, I reveal how bureaucratic records became instruments of surveillance, exclusion, and the policing of Chinese women's bodies. Cutting, layering, printing, and reconstructing are not only visual strategies but forms of embodied labor that echo generations of East Asian women's often invisible work of care, repair, and survival. Through these repetitive material processes, image-making becomes a way of carrying familial memory across generations while transforming acts of labor into acts of remembrance. I construct fragmented photographic environments where colonial histories can be physically dismantled and reassembled. Through dioramas, hand-cut photographic fragments, and recurring motifs such as monarch butterflies, lotus forms, horse imagery, and fetishized Chinese doll aesthetics, I examine how colonial histories continue to shape Chinese diasporic identity and intergenerational memory. These reconstructed photographs create spaces where historical realities and speculation coexist, unsettling fixed narratives of personal memory and collective history. By transferring my body onto fragmented surfaces, I reclaim authorship and challenge orientalist regimes of visibility. Cutout eyes emerge as forms of surveillance and resistance, interrupting passive viewing while reclaiming presence. The act of cutting becomes both violence and release: dismantling imposed narratives while rebuilding belonging. Across my practice, material labor becomes a means of preserving memory while reimagining diasporic belonging.