I am a multidisciplinary artist, maker, story-teller, educator, curator, and student of herbalism from the SF Bay Area and living on unceded Muwekma Ohlone land (Oakland, CA).

My practice connects process + material storytelling to deepen + honor ancestral + collective relationships. Everything else ties back into these three ideas.

I primarily use craft based processes for the depth and emphasis on material and process as a form of storytelling and energy transfer. Some of the processes include patchwork quilting, natural dyeing, photography, and herbalism. I draw visual and energetic inspiration from objects / imagery used in Chinese ancestral worship, funeral rituals, divination, lore and both traditional Chinese medicine and Celtic herbalism.

Some things I’ve been thinking about lately:

  • How are we deepening our relationship to land as both settlers (non-native) + children of migrants?

  • How can deepening relations with plants + plant medicine help to transcend the violences of assimilation, borders, capitalism, + imperialism to reroot in ancestral knowledge?

  • If plants have traveled with people in similar migration patterns, what does that tell us about those relationships? How is that beautiful + how is that harmful (intentionally + not) to native populations?

  • How do we share what we know + are learning from plant relatives + our teachers?

  • How does making art, storytelling + learning from plants / the land / our ancestors teach us skills to envision a better future?

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I have presented work in solo shows at Dream Farm Commons (Oakland, CA) and Cone Shape Top (Oakland, CA) and in group exhibitions at Kearny Street Workshop (San Francisco, CA), CTRL+SHFT Collective (Oakland, CA), Root Division (San Francisco, CA), Southern Exposure (San Francisco, CA), and Adobe Books (San Francisco, CA). I have also curated exhibitions and organized events at Kearny Street Workshop, Dream Farm Commons, and CTRL+SHFT Collective and have worked on the curatorial and AiR committee at Dream Farm Commons.

jessicatt888@gmail.com   @jesyung