Sorority. Wall Drawing, 2018. Casa MA, San José, Costa Rica, 2018.
The word sorority in Mandarin is composed of two words: Older sister and Younger sister. At a very young age I learned about sorority growing up with my sisters. This lesson has guided the replicas and constant enjoyment of this indispensable relationship for the wellbeing of women which is the one we build with other women: a blanket of love, protection and collaboration that nurtures all of us who receive and also offer it.
This piece consists in writing the ideogram of the word older sister (姐) and younger sister (妹) in Mandarin. The ideograms are written with Chinese calligraphy brush and ink and its shape will be composed of my sisters’ names: Wen Hsu for the older sister ideogram, and Vanessa Hsu for the ideogram of younger sister.
There is a reference made to the 2008 piece: Retrato Familiar en Helvética (Family Portrait in Helvetica) where I explore the symbol as an abstract medium of representation. The ideograms of each one of my sisters are a portrait that represent them as people, but at the same time there is a portrayal of my relationship with them, of the bond that we’ve built and also of the concept of sorority.