APP: What was it like growing up in Montgomery?
CK: I felt like an outsider, and I was thrown into school without being able to speak English at all. I loved to draw, so I did a lot of that in class. I was able to go back to Indonesia in 2012, and realized that I am an outsider there too…not really being a part of either place completely. It was after my visit that I really started thinking about what home means, and what are the materials I can gather to represent who I am. My grandparents have passed away since my visit, and my cousins have grown big, so the passage of time is also something I want to convey.
APP: What kinds of things do you like to collect?
CK: I like to collect discarded items from everyday activities. Eggshells resonate, because to me they represent the beauty and fragility of life, and a kind of tragic-ness. I collect ash from rituals my family observes, burning joss paper as ghost money for our ancestors, as well as the carbon that comes from build up from the giant wok my family used at their restaurant. I compress those materials to make charcoal and ink for my work. Having left so many things behind, collecting is therapeutic for me. It’s how I heal, and I love the poetry of giving these mundane items another life. With the charcoal I have produced a series called Letters To Loved Ones, after thinking about all the things I’d like to say to my grandparents.
