Erin Chen
I am an illustrator with prior experience as a stage designer in Beijing. The mundane details of everyday life inspire my work. My final project focuses on food nostalgia among the Chinese diaspora in Glasgow. My work seeks to evoke childhood memories through observation of sensory experiences informed by research, personal memories and observational drawing.
Taste of Nostalgia
My work employs screen-printing with a limited colour palette. My colour palette adopts the palette of traditional Chinese painting connecting the origins of foods in China with their current expression in Glasgow. Often the versions of foods evident among the Glasgow diaspora provide an insight into the food traditions at a fixed point in time, reflecting the era at which the Chinese migrants brought their original recipes to Glasgow. In contrast, the food culture in China continues to evolve and change.
Project Links
New Plants Collection
When I toured the Glasgow Botanical Garden, I saw a kind of tropical plant in my hometown in the Glasgow botanical garden, and I felt a connection between my hometown and Glasgow. The plants, like humans, travel and settle down in a new city. This story will show the diaspora how to live in a new place.
