Meet Mi Chen | Interdisciplinary Artist

We had the good fortune of connecting with Mi Chen and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Mi, what do you think makes you most happy? Why?
I would say that I’m a very interdisciplinary person. I make designs, experimental films, tattoos, and pottery, and I also love playing guitars, singing, and some sports. I’ve always been a person who enjoys doing many different things since I was a kid. So I guess having diverse interests and constantly learning new things makes me happy.

Let’s talk shop? Tell us more about your career, what can you share with our community?
Even though my works include all types of stuff, I’ve realized that the topic and theme I love the most was always about memories, stories, and trauma. To me, the most important thing would be how to tell the story in a poetic and “obscure” way and finding the right medium for the project always comes second.

For example, in my project Through the Crevice, I talked about my own family trauma which happened when I was in elementary school and lasted for a couple of years. There were three parts of the project-the first part was an interview-based video that collects four young Chinese artists’ traumatic experiences with their families and how they impact their adulthood. The second part was a virtual exhibition space which is a reproduction of my childhood home that displays the digital illustrations I created inspired by my own traumatic family memories. The illustrations are placed in the rooms where specific incidents took place in order to restore the authenticity of memories, while the furniture inside the exhibition is left without materiality and color with the intention of creating an obscure and cold, yet familiar environment. The third part of my project was documenting everything in a book and also telling the story with writing. The stories behind each illustration are hidden inside the folded pages of the book. Readers can only encounter the personal narratives of the traumatic incident by tearing the pages open.

In this project, I used different mediums and skills including video, digital illustration, Cinema 4D, typography, bookbinding, etc, which was actually a great experience for me even though the theme of the project was trauma. It wasn’t easy for me to talk about that traumatic memory since I wasn’t sure if I was “mature” enough and ready to talk about that, so there were countless times of emotional breakdowns. However, I didn’t have to “overcome” the challenges necessarily, because I was already in the mindset of “I’m going to embrace all the emotions I feel during the process of this project, no matter if they’re sad or pain.”

But! Not all of my projects are as heavy as Through the Crevice! I’ve also done projects like an interactive visual novel game called “Lost in Wonderland”, which is about a young girl Mi Chen(myself)’s journey to explore and find answers in the wonderlands of the loss of her 22-year-old, with my best friend and future studio partner Shan Zhang. We also created VJ videos for musicians, an artist collaboration project for Converse China’s TikTok. I’ve done many fun graphic design projects and plenty of fun ceramics stuff as well!

If you had a friend visiting you, what are some of the local spots you’d want to take them around to?
I currently live in New York City so there’s A LOT to explore for sure! But one of my favorite places in NYC would be the Lincoln Center area. Manhattan is usually so loud and busy and overwhelming, but Hearst Plaza would always be peaceful and quiet. I used to go to Lincoln Center to watch films all the time cause they have amazing film selections, and I would arrive an hour early just to grab a coffee and sit in Hearst Plaza to enjoy the peacefulness for a while.

I also love to go vintage shopping in East Village and Williamsburg!

Shoutout is all about shouting out others who you feel deserve additional recognition and exposure. Who would you like to shoutout?
I’d love to shout out to my high school art instructor who really pushed me and helped me on my journey of studying abroad, my college professors who showed me the way and led me into a beautiful path in design, my parents who never doubted me and who would always be there to support me, and my genius friends who are all incredibly talented, kind, and supportive.

Website: www.michen.art

Instagram: @cmxixixix

Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/mi-chen-280223197/