The subject of my current work is the national flower of Korea: the hibiscus, also known as the Rose of Sharon. Although perceived as beautiful by most, to me the flower’s nationalistic associations mask its beauty. Because I feel that I have been forced to like the flower, I actually hate it. I object to the infusion of patriotism into the object.

In my work I dismantle the hibiscus through a series of transformations. I first use wire to create three-dimensional abstractions of the red veins of the petals. I then use these forms as a source for drawings, which I work, wrestle with, erase and rework. As I move further away from the reference, I am figuring out how each creation has its own values and meanings for each part in the interpretation process. Through the process of making these abstract drawings of the Rose of Sharon, I am finding a path back to the meaning of the original source.