LONG TIME NO SEE (好久不見)
Stephanie Shih: LONG TIME NO SEE (好久不見)
On View: August 28, 2024 – June 7, 2025
Location: Reeves Museum of Ceramics
Save the Date: Artist Talk & Reception, Thursday, September 26, 2024, 5:30 - 7:30 PM
Image (left): 美(國)人(The Rose Piece), 2023, Stephanie Shih (American, b. 1986), archival pigment print on bamboo paper, mirrored vinyl, and ceramics drawn from Reeves Collection, 84 x 48 in. Museums at W&L. Image © Copyright Stephanie Shih.
Stephanie Shih: Long Time No See (好久不見) invites visitors to explore each gallery space within the Reeves Museum of Ceramics, offering an immersive exploration of hidden narratives and voices within the Museums at W&L’s nationally renowned Reeves Collection of Chinese Export Porcelain. Through 15 life-size photography and video-based still life installations, photographer and inaugural artist-in-residence Stephanie Shih unveils nuanced insights into themes of commerce, labor, imperialism, and identity. Seamlessly blending still life traditions with Asian American perspectives, Shih juxtaposes altered still life photographs with ceramics drawn from the Reeves Collection, creating a dynamic interplay between the tangible and the photographic. Shih's work reimagines these coveted ceramics as vessels of diasporic history, prompting reflection on belonging, migration, and cultural identity in the United States. Shih's thought-provoking series encourages visitors to consider the complexities of possession, desire, and cultural heritage.
The exhibition was organized and conceptualized by Isra El-Beshir (Director of Art Museum and Galleries) and Stephanie Shih, in collaboration with Nalleli Guillen (Associate Director of Curatorial Affairs), Elizabeth Spear (former Curator of Academic Engagement), and curatorial consultants Jacqueline Chao (Cecil and Ida Green Curator of Asian Art at the Dallas Museum of Art), Rachel Du (specialist in Chinese art and history), and Kelly Fu (Stanford University PhD candidate in early modern Chinese global history).
This exhibition is made possible through the support of the Terra Foundation for American Art, the Reeves Endowment, and the Museum Art Fund.
Stephanie Shih
Stephanie Shih (史欣雲) is a visual still life artist 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 moonlighted as a wedding cake maker, and translating the fantastical experience of food to the visual image has been a driving throughline of her work ever since.
Shih has exhibited at venues including Hashimoto Contemporary LA, Griffin Museum of Photography, USC Pacific Asia Museum, and The Royal Photographic Society (UK). Her photography has been featured in a number of media outlets including Elle Girl Korea, 7x7, Bloomberg Businessweek, Gastronomica, Buzzfeed, and the Los Angeles Times.
Shih is from the San Francisco Bay Area and currently lives in Los Angeles. When note in the studio or kitchen creating, she is a professor at the University of Southern California.
In Wilson Hall studio at W&L, May 2023, during the Museums' Artist-in-Residence Program. Photo courtesy of the artist.
LONG TIME NO SEE (好久不見) is a series of photograph and motion-based still life installations that delve into the complexities of the diasporic experience in America: presence/absence, integration/alienation, trauma/healing. The project mines the Asian export porcelain collection at the Museums at Washington & Lee, drawing pieces from before the first major waves of Asian immigration to the U.S. in the 1800s through the early 20th century. In the project, I directly intervene in the ongoing biographies of these export ceramics—themselves also diasporic objects—and create layered conversations with archival materials, personal experiences, art and cultural histories, and the natural world around southwestern Virginia, where the ceramics now reside. The resulting installation, which couples altered photographs with three-dimensional museum objects, is a physical metaphor for presence and absence, challenging the viewer to actively confront the (ir)recoverability of wholeness in the face of history. Much of the diasporic experience involves grappling with the continued amputation of the context of our origins, histories, and cultural practices when we are perceived as cultural “others” in American society. In weaving together historical and contemporary Asian American experiences, this project celebrates a transfer of narrative agency and power back to diasporic voices.
Exhibition Companion Website
View the LONG TIME NO SEE Exhibition Companion website to find more information about Stephanie Shih's work and time at the Museums at W&L.
Museum Shop
The Museums at W&L announces the September 2024 release of Stephanie Shih: LONG TIME NO SEE 好久不見, a publication highlighting the Museums' inaugural Artist-in-Residence exhibition and its celebrated collection of Chinese export porcelain.
With contributions by Jacqueline Chao, Rachel Du, Stephanie Shih, and Elizabeth Spear. Photographs by Stephanie Shih and installation photographs by Shaun Roberts.
This beautifully produced hardcover catalog features 15 full-color reproductions of Shih’s photographic still-life series, which reimagine ceramics drawn from the nationally renowned Reeves Collection of Chinese export porcelain as vessels of diasporic history. Engaging texts by curators and scholars reveal the nuanced history of the China Trade and explore themes of commerce, labor, and identity through the lens of Chinese export ceramics and Shih’s still lives.
Events and Programming
Game Night: Drive Out the Pig
Tuesday, September 24, 2024, 5:30 – 7:30 PM
Watson Galleries
Join artist Stephanie Shih to discover the significance of the card game 'Drive Out the Pig,' which inspired her still life composition of the same name, and learn how to play the game! Free and open to all. Seats are limited and pre-registration is required.
Image credit: Drive Out the Pig (拱猪), 2023, Stephanie Shih, archival pigment print on bamboo paper and ceramics-based installation, 36 x 58 in. Image © Stephanie Shih.
Artist Talk & Reception with Stephanie Shih
Thursday, September 26, 2024, 5:30 – 7:30 PM
Artist Talk, 5:30 – 6:30 PM, The Tea House (located in the atrium of the Center for Global Learning)
Reception, 6:30 – 7:30 PM, Reeves Museum of Ceramics
Join us for an Artist Talk with Stephanie Shih in the Center for Global Learning Atrium and learn more about Shih's residency project, which has culminated in an exhibition, LONG TIME NO SEE, on view in the Reeves Museum of Ceramics through June 7, 2025. The talk will be followed by a reception from 6:30 – 7:30 PM, where food and drinks will be provided. The event is free and open to all. Seats are limited and pre-registration is required.
Image courtesy of artist.
Your Still Lives with Stephanie Shih
Saturday, September 28, 2024, 11:00 AM – 1:00 PM
Two Sessions: 11 AM and 1 PM
Watson Galleries
Join artist Stephanie Shih for a mini-exhibition tour of LONG TIME NO SEE, learn about how still lifes are a powerful medium for telling personal narratives, and create your own mini still life composition. Bring a personal item of significance to incorporate into your still life photo, which you'll make with the artist in a still life photobooth. Two 75-minute sessions are available. Seats are limited. Free and open to all.
Image credit: I'm Gonna Live Forever, 2023, Stephanie Shih, archival pigment print on bamboo paper and ceramics-based installation, 54 x 46 in. Image © Stephanie Shih.