ARTIST INTERVIEW
SUZE DEE, gilder and artist, chats with us over email about gilding, folk art, living in NYC, and her bike.
You describe the autobiographical piece, I Know Where I Came From, as a “love letter to your family”. What was it like to create a piece that is so clearly driven by a core personal narrative from inception to completion? Was it emotional? Clarifying? A burden lifted? Bonding?
It’s funny because I think that was the first piece I did, ever. It was a gift to my sister. Technically it’s really crude and simple but it just means a lot. The idea came to me out of nowhere… you know when you’re doing something mundane and you just think of something and go “hmm”. It was like that. I don’t know if I’m just overly sentimental about these things but I feel like a part of my soul goes into pieces like that. It’s exciting to make work under those pretenses, and I would definitely say it’s almost a love language for me.
It’s kind of ironic too. Who would’ve thought in that dramatic moment of escape my family endured, that someday I’d have the privilege to commemorate it with… gold? Gold. Wild. My story isn’t special though and isn’t something that can’t be related to literally millions of kids of immigrants/refugees/first generation who live under the umbrella of their parents’ sacrifices.
(...)
It’s funny because I think that was the first piece I did, ever. It was a gift to my sister. Technically it’s really crude and simple but it just means a lot. The idea came to me out of nowhere… you know when you’re doing something mundane and you just think of something and go “hmm”. It was like that. I don’t know if I’m just overly sentimental about these things but I feel like a part of my soul goes into pieces like that. It’s exciting to make work under those pretenses, and I would definitely say it’s almost a love language for me.
It’s kind of ironic too. Who would’ve thought in that dramatic moment of escape my family endured, that someday I’d have the privilege to commemorate it with… gold? Gold. Wild. My story isn’t special though and isn’t something that can’t be related to literally millions of kids of immigrants/refugees/first generation who live under the umbrella of their parents’ sacrifices.
(...)
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