Untitled (03/12 2020)

"20XX is a series of sculptures (and their resulting images) that contort and amalgamate our shared, built environments, which are embedded with histories of society-building through physical interventions. These 3D collages visualize the the variances in the materials, aesthetics and definitions of shelter; corrosion and states of disrepair; acts of self-expression through graffiti; displays of wealth through orderliness; and office buildings, factories and mom-and-pop storefronts as markers of personal means of survival and the shells of capitalism's many engines/victims. My advantages and ambivalences within global, public spaces are visually synthesized, and literally located, in my hometown area, the East Bay.

I photograph every image and, when on foot, I am conscious of my body’s vulnerability, given its size and perceived gender, in public space. As someone whose experience is that of an outsider to the perceived normal and default identity, but also not an insider to my prescribed racial demographic, I feel ambivalent in many locations, especially those outside of the US. My own losses and my own imperialism, by virtue of my ethnicity and nationality, are always on my mind.

While acknowledging my own viewpoint, I focus on what connects and affects us all: what we visibly—but not necessarily physically or culturally—have access to, and the material language, lifespan and histories of cement, steel and wood. I imagine the thoughts and feelings of the humans whose labor went into constructing a retaining wall, repairing sidewalks and installing the sheetrock in the building. I pull back and see the social and commodification webs in which all of us work and struggle to survive and thrive. We must all grapple with the lineages and systems of our landscapes: generations of housing segregation, the shifting of the attention economy from the road to the phone, and the privatization of utilities."

– Amy Yoshitsu