Katherine Ng – Banana Yellow | Fortune Ate Me
Maier Museum of Art at Randolph College’s 112th Annual Exhibition
Back to Front: Artists’ Books by Women
Katherine Ng, Banana Yellow, 1992, wire binding; letterpress printed; illustrated with photo engravings; trapezoid shaped | 12 x 10 cm, Courtesy of Bainbridge Island Museum of Art, Cynthia Sears Collection.
To see Banana Yellow in action, click HERE.
The structure of “Banana Yellow” reflects a stereotypical icon of the Chinese-American take-out box. The artist book reads like a set of bound flash cards where the top page is a Chinese word with English translation and a short anecdote about the word on the bottom page. The title is a play on words where ‘banana’ is used in a derogatory way to describe someone who looks Asian but acts like a white person: yellow on the outside, white on the inside.
“The majority of my work reflects my bi-cultural upbringing in a Chinese American family. This is evident in the text and structure of my first artist book Banana Yellow and my third artist book, Fortune Ate Me. In these books my anecdotal text becomes incorporated into structures that emphasize a stereotype of my ethnicity – Chinese take-out boxes and fortune cookies.” ~Katherine Ng
Katherine Ng, Fortune Ate Me, 1992, modified pink pastry box with seven paper fortune-cookie shapes, red cotton string closure; each has a statement printed on it with a response on a separate slip (fortune); text is handset and letterpress printed letterpress; collagraph, linocut on paper, 5 x 7 x 1-1/2 in., Courtesy of Bainbridge Island Museum of Art, Cynthia Sears Collection.
“Fortune Ate Me, inspired by letters written to me from my father while I was a student at U.C. Santa Cruz, is dedicated to my father, Ming Sang Ng. His words have made a difference for me.” `Katherine Ng
ARTIST STATEMENT
I am a book artist. The artist book is my medium of expression. I enjoy writing the narrative, typesetting, printing on the letterpress and designing the structure of the book. The artist’s book best explores/examines race and identity because the intriguing structures draws the viewer/reader into an engaging, intimate experience with the artwork.