MANDORLA
Center for Book Arts, 2024
The elliptical mandorla, Italian for “almond,” is used in Christian iconography to frame sacred scenes and figures. Fruit and flowers signify fertility and rebirth. The book opens up to a signature of lined paper to evoke new beginnings and writing one’s next chapter; the off-center positioning honors the non-linear ways life unfolds. The center figure celebrates the multiplicity of the Asian-American experience and each of our own journeys towards expression and vitality.
This piece is included in the Hello Thank You Come In: 50th Anniversary Members Exhibition, on view until May 1, 2024.
The elliptical mandorla, Italian for “almond,” is used in Christian iconography to frame sacred scenes and figures. Mathematically formed by intersection of two circles, this shape is often associated with birth, the feminine, and new life.
New beginnings
I first learned about mandorla at the beginning of a Renaissance art history course in college, when we covered medieval religious paintings. Ellsworth Kelly’s piece Untitled (Mandorla) at the SFMOMA made an impression as well: the bronze life-size piece comes off the wall, like a portal or a door inviting viewers to walk into.
The central figure celebrates the multiplicity of the Asian-American experience and each of our own journeys towards expression and vitality. Her eyes are mine, to obscure the model’s identity and thereby generalize the figure as a stand-in for our own experiences.
The central figure excels in being–neither doing nor taking up apologetic space. She is blossoming and emerging, finding her way again at the other side of pandemic mass measures. After an individual and collective inner winter, she steps into spring.
Yellow Legal Pad Paper
The signature of yellow legal pad paper evokes a journal to signify writing our own stories and starting new chapters. The off-center positioning honors the non-linear ways life unfolds. The use of this ordinary office supply elevates the everyday.
Fruit & Flowers
Fruit and flowers signify fertility and rebirth. Bright and bulbous apples brings to mind both fertility (when balanced) and polyps (overgrowth due to imbalance).
Silver & Purple Elements
The silver foil shape evokes the tip of the cervix, the site of both birth and gynecological testing. The purple elements come from a photo shoot of the landscapes of Iceland, where I had recently visited.