Hong Chen and Hue Chen
RED WOMB, 1997-2018
Wool yarn, elastic

This work was on loan for the exhibition, In Relation, at the Marjorie Barrick Museum of Art, April 19 - November 23, 2024

In 1997, when she was one month pregnant, a Las Vegas casino worker named Hong Chen knitted a red sweater. Twenty-one years later in 2018, her child Hue created another sweater in dialogue with their mother’s experience. Hue, a fashion designer and artist who founded the creative Las Vegas space known as the cloud house, cites their mother and all casino workers as sources of inspiration.

Item description: Two crimson sweaters. The sweater on the left, created in 1997, is snug and monotone, following a generic silhouette. The sweater on the right, created in 2018, is a collage of textures, cropped and oversized sleeves. Ribbed black fabric seems to cut through the torso's left, cinch the sleeves' forearms, followed by three black stripes, and wrists.