Shirley Cao
Shirley Cao
Resident in October 2024
Nationality: USA
Artist in Residence 2024 - Shirley Cao is an American artist. During her time at Aviario Shirley explored the process of screen printing on ceramics, after pivoting from her initial intention to carve stone. Lining up with her previous work which focused on material explorations, she was interested in translating 2D imagery into the 3D world. Inspired by the infamous tiles in Portugal, she explored Portugal's colonial and trade history with Asia to call back recognizable Asian imagery onto the tile and make surreal, one of a kind objects. The work intends to be part of a tile tapestry where each tile serves as a vignette for non-linear storytelling. She inserts herself into the narrative, using relief casts of her face, and images of youth to examine themes of fragility, innocence, migration, displacement and cultural adaptation.
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