Lost in LACMA's new galleries, a serene still life serves as a compass

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Stephanie Shih, “梅國 (Still beingness with chamoy and Dirty T Tamarindo),” 2025/2026

Much has been written astir the acquisition of aimlessness successful the caller David Geffen Galleries astatine LACMA, but it is different happening to acquisition it firsthand. The meandering level plan, with its rooms of assorted sizes and orientations alongside their resulting passageways and corners, demands that you wander, not map, your perusal of the galleries. As a result, a visitant tin easy consciousness disoriented, oregon successful my case, a interaction deconstructed. A small depersonalized, if you will.

Fortuitously, I was determination to conscionable with multidisciplinary creator Stephanie Shih, whose photo-based compositions person the other effect, grounding the spectator successful their personhood and experience. Her inactive lifes are made some beauteous and meaningful done their intentional statement of circumstantial food, florals and ephemera, touching connected diasporic understandings of self, Western and European appropriations of the “exotic” and the juxtaposition of the earthy with the fabricated. In different words, to presumption a Shih portion is to collaborate with the creator connected reconstructing or, successful immoderate cases, reclaiming an knowing of spot and self.

We were talking about, and successful beforehand of, Shih’s caller piece, “梅國 (Still beingness with chamoy and Dirty T Tamarindo),” which was not lone commissioned by LACMA, but created successful a impermanent workplace Shih constructed wrong the assemblage itself implicit the people of 2 weeks precocious past year. The representation features 2 ceramic vessels, 1 somewhat successful beforehand of the other, wrong a accepted inactive beingness scene. The inheritance jar stands alone, portion the portion successful the foreground overflows with a rainbow of plants, flowers, fruit, chamoy candies, gummies and a azygous existent butterfly. To get to the tiny but sunny corridor that houses the work, 1 mightiness marque a fewer indirect turns and transverse the assemblage containing Andreas Gursky’s “Ocean” series. Flanked by 4 wall-size photographs of vast, overhead perspectives of the heavy bluish Indian Ocean, it’s casual to consciousness tiny among the elephantine panels. Luckily, erstwhile I met Shih astatine LACMA, she intercepted maine extracurricular and led america confidently up the Geffen’s melodramatic exterior staircase and to “The Global Appeal of Blue-and-White Ceramics” installation — nary crossing of oceans necessary.

After our conversation, I stayed to rotation the galleries for a fewer much hours. I americium a completist and I wanted, no, needed to spot everything. Without the prescribed navigation I was accustomed to successful a museum, this became a fool’s errand. I got physically mislaid and a spot mislaid to myself. Had I already seen that statue oregon did it conscionable look similar different visage besides rendered successful marble a fewer galleries back? I was beauteous definite I had already taken these 2 rights and past a near before, but what if I hadn’t and would past miss a full different room? The 360-degree curved solid walls encasing the galleries offered galore glimpses of a look that belonged to maine but someway wasn’t mine. Who was I? I felt similar I would ne'er spot everything connected display, but besides possibly ne'er again beryllium beyond the funhouse of the Geffen Galleries. In my confusion, I passed by “梅國 (Still beingness with chamoy and Dirty T Tamarindo)” much than erstwhile and was reminded of Shih’s quality to articulate analyzable reconstructions of aforesaid done her exquisite, serene compositions. It was capable to reassure maine that I could find myself again, if lone I slowed down and considered my discourse with curiosity alternatively of fear.

This curiosity led maine to “Shaping Dutch Identity: The Mr. and Mrs. Edward Carter Collection.” It was a serendipitous brushwood for 2 reasons: One, the ocular and symbolic correlation betwixt Shih’s painterly usage of shadiness successful her food- and floral-centered compositions, and the inactive beingness masterpieces of the 17th period Dutch. And two, due to the fact that overmuch similar her enactment itself, our interrogation included layered treatment of constructing and shaping identities. Take the caller Peter Zumthor-designed gathering successful which we recovered (and successful my case, lost) ourselves, which builds upon the existing galleries of LACMA portion redefining the museum’s identity. Or Shih’s in-situ studio, which was created for creation’s sake, past taken down with lone a photograph of its contents remaining — contents which were constructed by the artist, too.

There was besides the progression crossed cultures and continents of blue-and-white ceramics, which mirrors the improvement of chamoy, a pickled effect condiment successful Mexican cuisine that, on with a blue-and-white Talavera jar, is astatine the halfway of Shih’s piece. Both the ceramic and the chamoy traditions symbolize layers of civilization arsenic shaped by globalism and localism.

At 1 constituent successful our conversation, I was momentarily embarrassed erstwhile I couldn’t callback the Filipino word for dried sour plums (kiamoy), a precursor to Mexico’s chamoy. It was an facet of my individuality arsenic a third-generation Filipina that was besides irretrievable to maine that day. Shih was knowing and gracious successful her response: “One of the truly amusive parts of the enactment I get to bash is learning a batch of these histories that get hidden from us.” Given Shih’s world inheritance — she holds a PhD from Stanford University successful linguistics — it makes consciousness that she brings heavy probe to her practice. Her creation is affluent with symbolism and history. But Shih’s enactment is besides playful and, overmuch similar her effect to me, generous successful the invitation it extends to viewers to bring their ain identities to her pieces successful bid to conception meaning for themselves. I whitethorn person felt unmoored among the Geffen’s myriad corners and paths, but ne'er erstwhile I was lasting successful beforehand of Shih’s piece.

Installation of Stephanie Shih's 梅國 (Still beingness with chamoy and Dirty T Tamarindo) (2025- 26) and (bottom) Jar (c. 1700-50).

Claire Salinda: Your creation captures flowers, chamoy and different candies and effect sumptuously arranged successful and astir a ceramic jar from LACMA’s imperishable collection. How did you determine connected chamoy arsenic a subject? And however is it contextualized wrong the caller David Geffen Galleries?

Stephanie Shih: “梅國 (Still beingness with chamoy and Dirty T Tamarindo)” is connected show successful “The Global Appeal of Blue-and-White Ceramics.” The assemblage presents a condensed past of blue-and-white ceramics globally successful dishes, starting successful the Middle East with a 9th period Iraqi piece. From the Middle East we truly got the usage of cobalt successful designs, and that joined with the instauration of porcelain from China. We besides person the Iznik kilns successful Turkey, which are inactive operating today, and influences into Southeast Asia, and truthful on. Later on, the power dispersed farther afield into Japan and France, wherever they started adding adjacent much to it. The blue-and-white contented has truly dispersed globally, truthful this assemblage is simply a bully microcosmic communicative of the effects of globalism earlier modern globalism.

For a agelong clip I’ve been wanting to marque a portion astir chamoy and was conscionable waiting for the accidental to bash so. The communicative of chamoy truly parallels this travel of blue-and-white ceramics, which got to Mexico due to the fact that of Spanish colonialism and past was adopted by section artisans. They truly made it their ain successful the Talavera tradition. Chamoy likewise comes from Asia done pickled plums, peculiarly China via the Philippines. Filipino laborers came to Mexico via colonialism, and adapted and adopted champoy with spices and chilies from Mexico to go chamoy.

The curator, Susie Ferrell, gave maine a full database of blue-and-white surveys that they were looking at. We went to retention and to the conservation labs to look astatine each the pieces and we ended up choosing 2 pieces to enactment with. The 1 successful “梅國 (Still beingness with chamoy and Dirty T Tamarindo)” is simply a Mexican Talavera jar from the 1700s. It’s the archetypal non-Asian root organization ceramic I’ve gotten to enactment with successful my career, which is the crushed that I gravitated toward it.

Chamoy has been utilized by a batch of modern time nutrient makers and chefs with American nostalgic candies, similar peach rings and gummy worms, and my idiosyncratic favorite, Gushers. One of these nutrient makers, Alana Solis, who’s based successful Tucson, runs Dirty T Tamarindo, a chamoy candy concern she started during the pandemic. It was from her that I learned the past of chamoy, and truthful I wanted to bash a portion with her candies for a agelong time. And this is conscionable a truly cleanable accidental with the Talavera jar.

I had pitched to Susie that it mightiness beryllium bully to person a 2nd ceramic successful the piece, a companion that demonstrates the origins and precursors of the blue-and-white ceramics successful Mexico, a Chinese portion oregon something. She really picked the 1 pictured here, which is besides from the LACMA collection. It’s a 12th period Qingbai ware prunus vase, a meiping jar. When Susie pitched it to me, I didn’t adjacent recognize however cleanable it was: A prunus vase is usually what they enactment plum blossoms in, and meiping means beauteous plum vase. It conscionable ended up being a really, truly bully prime from her.

CS: You built a workplace abstraction wrong the assemblage to make the piece. I’m funny astir the constraints and what was astonishing for you.

SS: I was present for 2 weeks. I had a person physique a wall, we painted it downstairs and past brought it successful and had it successful the assemblage with the airy coming successful done the windows. They gave maine a refrigerator to store each the food, due to the fact that I wasn’t expected to person it retired successful the assemblage space. We built retired enactment tables excessively … it’s hard to benignant of ideate with each the different worldly present now.

It was successful December, and truthful the gathering was successful respective stages of installation with the art. There were conscionable stacks of crates and boxes, which is astonishing — it was precise chill to conscionable spot statues fractional unpacked.

And actually, seeing everything get installed affected my reasoning astir the frame. Originally I wasn’t going to bash a framed piece, it was conscionable going to beryllium connected a panel. But past arsenic I saw everything other spell up, determination was a weightiness to the mode everything was framed and thought about. A batch of the frames are golden gilded, which are incredibly beauteous and historical. I wanted thing that played disconnected of that tradition, but utilizing a reddish framework made it truly evident that it’s not 100% wrong tradition.

CS: How does this committee acceptable into your practice?

SS: My enactment started retired truly reasoning astir the creator references we get arsenic radical moving successful nutrient and inactive life. So galore of the references are of this precise Eurocentric creation humanities tradition. But if you look astatine that tradition, galore things are taken from different cultures and utilized to symbolize the entree and wealthiness and worth that was assigned to these objects from the position of European imperialists, to enactment it nicely. It wasn’t until precise precocious that radical were adjacent thinking, “Well, wherever are these things from? What different creator traditions does that mean that we’ve benignant of borrowed from?” And truthful a batch of my enactment thinks astir responding to that, but besides taking backmost immoderate of that contented to archer stories of diaspora communities contiguous present successful the U.S.

From there, I’ve truly started reasoning a batch astir the operation of individuality and however we get to the things that symbolize who we are, and however we usage symbols arsenic we determination done the world. As a cognitive idiosyncratic and linguist, a batch of my probe grooming is astir symbols and astir the operation of individuality successful that way.

CS: Do you deliberation that this portion could person been made anyplace else?

SS: No, I don’t deliberation so. There’s thing truthful peculiar astir the ngo with the caller building, however it’s truthful overmuch much fluidly built and however LACMA is trying to deliberation curatorially extracurricular of the silos that person been acceptable up by accepted creation history. Thinking astir that really, truly influenced my attack to these pieces successful presumption of trying to illness successful each portion the timescales of humanities influences and modern identity, but besides the locality.

There’s worldly successful “梅國 (Still beingness with chamoy and Dirty T Tamarindo)” that’s precise planetary and acold away, but besides hyper section and present successful L.A. For instance, the butterfly was recovered by my person conscionable a mates miles northbound successful WeHo portion I was moving astatine LACMA. It’s autochthonal to California.

Do you cognize who Rachel Ruysch is? She was 1 of the large Dutch inactive beingness painters and successful immoderate of her aboriginal work, she was capable to entree flowers and plants from the American West, which was truly uncommon astatine that time. She has a portion with prickly pear cactus arsenic good arsenic datura successful it, which is crazy. We spot those plants close here, but not successful England and the Netherlands, wherever she was moving astatine the time. Seeing that portion was portion of the power arsenic well. In my piece, we person candy stripe ranunculus, which I was capable to find for the candy. The cactus is from my backyard. There’s marigold and chamomile for their value successful Mexican culture, and the hibiscus flower, which has a agelong past crossed the Pacific Rim, tracing a batch of the places that ended up with chamoy and sour plums. I wanted a small motion to Hawaii with the pineapple due to the fact that that’s wherever we besides get salted plum culture.

CS: As we basal and chat successful beforehand of “梅國 (Still beingness with chamoy and Dirty T Tamarindo),” I can’t assistance but announcement folks stopping to instrumentality it in. How is it being present and seeing radical interact with the work?

SS: Oh, truly fun!

CS: Do you ever privation to interrupt them to reply a question you overhear?

SS: No. I deliberation my favourite portion of watching radical interact with the pieces is what they bring to it. Some radical spot the chamoy instantly and they admit their experiences successful it, which is truly beauteous to see. Like, I tin spot someone’s been pointing astatine it, there’s a bully fingerprint mark. That’s funny. Some radical admit the candy successful it. Kids often inquire me, “How did the gummy butterflies fly?” and that’s truly amusive to answer. I admit that everyone brings their ain experiences to it, and that benignant of completes the portion for me.

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