Artist Instruction Notes (handouts for participants) for "Extravagance of Memory II" at the 10th Annual Exhibition at Asian American Arts Centre, New York City, from Sep. 22-Nov. 4, 2000.
"The Extravagance of Memory II is a serial drawing comprised of 108 sheets of 8 1/2*11" paper hung together on a wall. The drawing was created by this process: After drawing the letter "I" carefully onto the first sheet of paper, I asked a stranger to copy it as accurately as possible onto a blank sheet of paper. The resulting (second generation) drawing was then given to another stranger to copy (creating a third generation). This process was repeated until the series reached 108 generations. I consider the process to be an archeology of collective memory, because the inevitable shifts in the image result from the active reading and interpretation of each participant."--artist statement