沈乐
Mattie Kim Shen Le Hanson

Born in Nanjing, China, adopted and brought to Colorado Springs, Colorado.
The beginning of my studies into creation started from a young age but my academic studies started at the San Francisco Art Institute and ended with a BFA in Photography at the University of Colorado Denver. In 2016 I moved to New Orleans, Louisiana and was introduced to a new form of creation, event and museum fabrication by way of carpentry. This developed into woodworking and is another skill that I work to incorporate into my art practice.

My work explores a longing for connection and desirability through moments seen, felt and heard. I have multiple labels socially assigned and personally claimed to give myself a placement.

Recently my conceptual focus has been on Chinese adoption as it relates to identity individually and culturally as a sociopolitical policy. I’m interested in creating work around the adoptee narrative, language around the One Child Policy and the shifts of identity from infancy, adolescence, going into adulthood. Growing up with a white family in a predominately white town, perception of a Chinese American identity was through a white lens. An interpretation of what Chinese American culture looked like.

“An invisible red thread connects those who are destined to meet regardless of time, place or circumstance. The thread may stretch or tangle but will. never break”

-author unknown Chinese proverb