Uncomfortable artist statement (from a-n)

 

This is my artist statement currently,

Jasmine Lee (b. 1994, UK)

I make diagrams in Adobe Illustrator and Photoshop with made-up models that imitate legitimacy. These are made up passively from consuming long-form content on the internet, attending cultural events and witnessing Western pop culture. This evolved from Microsoft Paint in the school computer suites, where I first made digital work. I enjoy connecting the properties of the lines that form whole structures in the visual language of pseudoscience.

My parents and ancestors are from Hong Kong, and I grew up in England alienated from my ethnic heritage and hidden autism until my 30s, so I use my work as a vehicle to work out my bicultural and autistic identity.

I studied at University of Staffordshire and Birmingham School of Art, culminating in a master’s in Fine Art in 2021. I have previously shown work locally and internationally, with awards from the Southern Health NHS Foundation and Warwick University. I’m currently based in Birmingham.

 

I was fine until I added in information about my autism. There was a time when I was embarrassed to talk about my ethnicity. This was when I was constantly teased for my eyes and called names by peers, and even strangers on the street for my appearance. I’ve worked on myself to the point where I’m comfortable talking about my ethnicity. But I still get mocked somehow. When I was working in the factory, I was mocked for being too British. My colleagues didn’t like that I spoke English too well. I worked with first generation migrants and the factory was multicultural, so I was bullied in a different circumstance than when I was mocked at a majority white school. I’m basically othered for not fitting in either “worlds” in the same way Kafka felt that he was ostracised.

I feel uncomfortable now after writing about my autism on my artist statement, because I haven’t worked through this psychological complex yet. I’m not sure where to begin, because there is too much for me to work through in my work. The burden is massive. I’m going through the ADHD assessment too, so I’m constantly holding my own beer, if a meme were to describe this situation.

I felt a lot happier, maybe at home when I was in Venice, because it felt reassuring to know me and most people there were tourists. I think the sign, Foreigners everywhere at the 2024 Venice Biennale made sense in this context.