Rey Jeong
Screaming Yellow
Screaming Yellow is a social sculpture in the form of a pick-up truck, a fake politician’s persona, and short films that explore identity, culture and diaspora. Jeong deploys a truck, replete with its own stereotypes related to whiteness and masculinity, as a mobile platform to project BIPOC faces and to propagate their voices; the speech Jeong gives in the truck’s bed touches on fluidity, invisibility, and empowering others to scream; the small group discussions are connected by a string of questions like a water drop turning into a deafening cascade. The questions posed by participants range from a call to arms to expressions of self-hate: How can we break the cycle of silence? Have you been racist to someone of your own race? The artwork recontextualizes diasporic Individuals’ shame, otherness, and legacy and examines the power of sharing collective trauma.
There are four TV screens placed behind a yellow pickup truck. In front of the truck, five yellow chairs are placed in a semi-circle so that participants can watch one TV that has been placed inside the truck bed. The truck has been renovated to resemble a Korean politician’s campaign truck. The words Screaming Yellow are painted on the side of the truck in purple and white lettering.
The truck has three functions. First, it is a stage for Asians to share their stories – in the pick up bed, there is a chair and a megaphone with a microphone. A black metal step is installed on the tailgate to make it easier for participants to come up and speak up.
The five yellow chairs are situated below a sound dome to watch a fifteen minute video called Cascade Voices #5, shot inside the Duderstadt Library’s video room. Participants are encouraged to hold their own small group discussions in the space.
A 7 x 5 foot poster is affixed to one side of the truck, prominently featuring the artist’s face as she screams. Text includes “Vote for Yellow Party,” “The time to scream is now!” and QR codes that lead to the artist’s website.
An installation in the form of a neon sign features the text “Got Diaspora” in yellow and blue colors. The text signifies the theme of the work, which encourages participants to publicly share their stories related to identity, cultural heritage and celebrating the state of diaspora.
Cascade Voices, experimental film, 2021
‘Mining Gold’ is a 36-page volume containing visual poetry. The cover is blue and the contents include 21 poems in the form of diary entry fragments, photo collages and other visual mediums. The poem’s themes include identity, dreams, and relationship with fluidity as a member of diaspora.
Water Correspondences is a collaboration with Ellie Schmidt. This work is part of the thesis mini group show with my cohort. This expansive project includes a zine, installations, and call and response films as process-oriented work, which invites the public to reflect on their own memories of water.
There are two carpets in the 15′ x 10′ dark room, one full-sized bathtub, and an aquarium that is twenty inches wide. One edge of the aquarium is propped up from the floor with a metal wedge and chains attached to the lip of the aquarium prevent it from toppling forward. Small water pumps circulate water, creating ripples on the surface. Projectors are positioned on the ceiling to shine videos on the water’s surface, and the ripples refract and reflect onto the dark room walls. A speaker plays the two artists reading poems, letters and journals about water.
Water Correspondences, Projection and Performance, Collaboration with Ellie Schmidt, 2021