PASADENA, CALIF.- SC Pacific Asia Museum presents 開花結果 Open Flowers Bear Fruit, an exhibition featuring ten photographs from Stephanie Shih’s ongoing series Asian American Still Life. Through her references to 17th-century Dutch still life paintings, Shih’s visually rich and detailed photographs remind viewers of the complex history of objects and food. Upon viewing the photographs, visitors may contemplate reaching through the surface of the paper to grab ahold of a donut or a bite of mochi. However, the richest reward of spending time with Shih’s series is to consider the complexity of the Asian American experience as it has manifested in the foods we eat and the things that remind us of home.

Shih’s passion for telling Asian American stories through her selection of objects and foods is particularly compelling, as is her specific interest in collaborating with the artists who create the ceramics and foods featured in her still-life photographs. Viewers are invited to visit openflowersbearfruit.com, a companion website for the exhibition created by Shih that tells the behind the scene stories of creating each photograph and highlights her collaborators.

Artist’s Biography:

Stephanie Shih is a still-life photographer, known for her painterly use of shadow applied to playful perspectives on food. Shih started making photographs with her dad’s half-frame camera on childhood road trips but only took up photography seriously later in life while in graduate school. At the time, she worked as a caterer, and translating the experience of food to the visual image has been a through line of her work ever since.

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As a second-generation Taiwanese-Chinese American, Shih explores themes of cultural dynamics—belonging, alienation, appropriation, and celebration—through her still-life photographs. Shih’s photography has been featured in print outlets, including Elle Girl Korea, 7×7, and Gastronomica, and online on Gourmet Live, Bon Appetit, Saveur, and Fine Cooking.

Shih currently lives in Los Angeles, and when not in the studio or kitchen creating, she is a professor at the University of Southern California.

USC PACIFIC ASIA MUSEUM
An integral part of the University of Southern California, the USC Pacific Asia Museum creates inspiring encounters with the art, history and culture of Pacific Asia to promote intercultural understanding in the service of elevating our shared sense of humanity. Established in 1971, the museum is one of few U.S. institutions dedicated to the arts and culture of Asia and the Pacific Islands serving the city of Los Angeles and the Greater Southern California region. The museum’s historic building has served as a center for art, culture, and learning in Pasadena since its construction in 1924 by pioneering collector and entrepreneur Grace Nicholson (1877-1948) as her residence and galleries.

In its brief history, the museum has organized and presented a number of groundbreaking exhibitions, including the first North American exhibitions of contemporary Chinese art and the first exhibition of Aboriginal art in the United States. Exhibitions originated by the museum have traveled across the country and internationally. A leader in its academic work and committed to scholarship, USC PAM has produced more than 50 exhibition catalogs. Learn more at pacificasiamuseum.usc.edu.

USC Pacific Asia Museum Presents
開花結果
OPEN FLOWERS BEAR FRUIT: Selections from Stephanie Shih's Asian American Still Life series
November 9, 2022 – March 12, 2023

USC Pacific Asia Museum is located at 46 North Los Robles Avenue in Pasadena, California.