Patchwork of Letters: A One Way Window

Patchwork of Letters is a crafted ritual and a material story, the act of sewing together sugar sacks saved by my white grandmother, turmeric dyed bed sheets and other recycled fabrics, is a way to construct wholeness while embracing nuance and complexity.

As I sewed this patchwork I worked alongside artist and friend, Kloe Chan, to translate a cigar box full of letters that my grandmother, Ping, had saved since her immigration to San Francisco. Before Kloe helped me translate the letters, I thought they were love letters written between my grandmother and grandfather while she was in Hong Kong and he was in San Francisco. But through the translation of these letters a window was opened, a window that had been blocked by generations of assimilation that resulted in the loss of language, communication and stories. 

Each letter became another piece in the weaving of a complex story, the letters became the window. The window can only be viewed from the perspective of Ping’s friends and family in Hong Kong, each letter written as a one way window from an outside perspective of Ping.

The mirror behind the sheer patchwork window reflects a foggy present. Reflecting back the stories that will alter or inform our future. Understanding your present can help you understand your past and that an alternate past can create an alternate future.

Photos by Johnny Galvan and Kirsten Brehmer