This piece investigates my complex, fractured relationship to Asian American identity and womanhood, informed by the broader contexts of objectification and orientalism. The Oxford English Dictionary defines “Chinoiserie” as “the imitation or evocation of Chinese motifs and techniques in Western art, furniture, and architecture.” In this quasi-self-portrait, I transform myself into a china doll, a caricature of the Western oriental fantasy.

Visual inspiration primarily derives from a composite of “Chinese porcelain doll” stock photos and Qing dynasty fashion, as well as Risso and Browne’s lithograph depicting Afong Moy, the first known Chinese woman to arrive in America, who was put on exhibit in New York as an exotic spectacle. The background’s decorative florals reference the stereotypically-Chinese blue and white porcelain, a material whose history is deeply embedded in trade linkages and geopolitics between Europe and Asia.