Artists

Photo Credit: NIU Chun-Chiang

PeiChin CHIANG

When I arrived at SFAI in early September, the summer was not over yet.
SFAI is located on the deserted campus of Santa Fe University of Art and Design, where the local community has been debating how to make use of it. It was also the place that residency artists stayed.
In the early September 2021, the showcase session was held online due to the ten-day self-isolation policy for the arrived artists.
In October 2021, the residency artists visited the exhibition opening of “Adaptive Immunity” by the director of SFAI Toni Gentilli in Albuquerque, New Mexico.
In October 2021, the residency artists visited the exhibition opening of “Adaptive Immunity” by the director of SFAI Toni Gentilli in Albuquerque, New Mexico.
Autumn landscape in November of The Historic Walks of Santa Fe.
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PeiChin CHIANG

Location USA / Santa Fe
Residency Santa Fe Art Institute (SFAI)
Year of the Grant 2021
PeiChin Chiang was born in the 1980s. She was selected for Santa Fe Art Institute (SFAI) literature residency by the Ministry of Culture, Taiwan, the Collective Narrative residency of Can Serrat in Spain, and the Matsu Artist Residency Program in Taiwan. She have won Youth Creative Writing fellowships by both the National Culture and Arts Foundation and the Ministry of Culture, Taiwan. PeiChin published her memoir and personal essay “Uncover the Shell” in 2020.


Artist statement:
At the end of the summer in 2021, I went to Santa Fe Art Institute (SFAI) in the State for the literature residency. Despite the unpredictable situation of COVID-19, I set out on my journey as planned. Thanks to the food I prepared beforehand and the delivery service, I completed the ten-day self-isolation. Once I had ended the isolation, I went to museums and galleries in Santa Fe for my project research.

To connect with different groups, I shared what I had experienced during the residence on social media every week, and there were 27 posts in total. I also shared my old works, my feelings about doing the residency, and the books from Taiwan to the American readers on SFAI’s Facebook page.

During the residency, all the artists had to participate in the “Residents Showcase” to introduce our concepts of creation, works, and residency projects. I presented my published book “Uncover the shell” and the writings from “Forms of record – Artist in Residency Matsu On-site Exhibition.” Probably because of the unfamiliar language and my humbleness, I usually said my work was not good enough. However, people told me that my works are actually beautiful and good. Those simple words encourage me a lot in my creation.

In the third week of my residency, I started to work on my short story “House Taken Over” and exchanged ideas with other artists. The concept of the story is based on my residency life and the housing problem that I observed in Santa Fe. In Santa Fe, local people could not afford the high rent caused by tourism development. This problem also brings on the homelessness issue. Therefore, in this story, I elaborated on the “housing issue” by combining the storyline with the news reports of Santa Fe.

At the end of the residency, the artists hosted “Open Studio” of our own accord because the official one was cancelled due to the pandemic. During the visits, we shared works and advice to each other. We somehow fulfilled the core value of SFAI which is to let artists support each other with their works. It is also the most remarkable achievement for me in this residency.

Author: PeiChin Chiang
Edited: Brix
About Santa Fe Art Institute (SFAI)