Jesse Chun selectively deletes the found texts on various immigration documents, while leaving all the fonts, spacing, and sizing in their original context. The erasure is simple yet thoughtfully considered – intentionally transforming the paperwork into metaphors of our collective transit. She also uses methods of photography and digital manipulation to create abstractions that highlight the sheer volume, physicality, and paper-ness of the forms that exist to validate our identities and mobility.

Chun’s poems and abstractions are devoid of their original function and individual specificity. By transforming the existing information, interrogation, and narratives of homeland, she constructs transcultural poetics of locating and dwelling.

Published by Booklyn on the occasion of the solo exhibition Valid From Until, curated by Janna Dyk, October 21 – November 18, 2016.

This book is made possible in part by the New York State Council on the Arts with the support of Governor Andrew Cuomo and the New York State Legislature and additionally in part by public funds from the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs in partnership with the City Council.