Stephanie H. Shih
Crab Rangoons (1956), 2022
Ceramic
Courtesy of the artist and Berggruen Gallery

This work is on loan for the exhibition, Living Here, at the Marjorie Barrick Museum of Art, June 20 - December 20, 2025

In 2018, Shih created porcelain sculptures of the dumplings she remembered folding as a child with her aunties and posted them online. The response from her Asian American audience was immediate. She began sculpting other foods that reminded the community of their childhoods in the diaspora—grass jelly, Ligo brand sardines, one-gallon cans of Kikkoman soy sauce. Sculpted and painted by hand, each clay foodstuff was a tangible connection to shared memories that gave the community a sense of belonging. Over time, the artist expanded her repertoire of foods that speak about other areas of Asian American experience. Crab rangoons, for example, were invented in California in the mid-1950s. Today they are a staple of Chinese American restaurants that cater to a non-Asian clientele.