Artwork / Empathetic Magic / Hannah Fitting In and Standing Out
Tool (Hannah Fitting In) and Weird Theorist (Hannah Standing Out)
2019
acrylic on bird’s eye piqué
each painting 18 inches in diameter
Hannah smiled at the gallery director, turning away only once she’d heard the woman out. She was being much more graceful than I would have been if a gallerist had grabbed me by the chin at my art opening.
I had caught the moment as I photographed the reception for my friend. Unfortunate though it was, I realized this encounter could make an interesting painting for Empathetic Magic: an Asian woman being treated like a little kid by her white peer.
When Hannah and I met up a few weeks later, I asked her about the exchange. Far from perturbed, my friend had to be reminded of what the gallerist had done. People view her as child-like and it doesn’t bother her. She is happily childfree and sees herself as her own child.
You can watch the making of Tool.
