CONNIE ZHENG 

97 Spirit Tablets for Longevity (until her true name is spoken she shall not disappear)

MATERIALS

Mixed media on scavenged and reclaimed pallet wood

CONSIDERATIONS

How do materials and place infuse an artwork with significance?
Can you identify five plants that you see outside your home? If so, do you know their histories, where they come from, how they grow? 
How do you celebrate or mourn the earth? Is there a difference for you?
Which steps do you consider necessary to help heal the land on which we live? How do you perceive your own role in supporting the communities that have stewarded it?
What gives you hope for the future?

REFERENCE SOURCES

• Sogorea Te Land Trust 

  Ohlone Land | Centers for Educational Justice & Community Engagement 

  The University and Jepson Herbaria of the University of California at Berkeley 

• Muwekma Ohlone Tribe of San Francisco Bay Area

• California Native Plant Society

• Berkeley: A City in History. Chapter 1. First settlers, CHARLES WOLLENBERG, UC Press

ARTIST NOTES

I repeatedly asked myself two questions while planning this installation: how do I take up public space in an ecologically, historically and culturally responsible way? And how do I create something simultaneously site-specific, accessible to a wide audience, aesthetically pleasing, and conceptually interesting (for myself, at least)? Most of my other ongoing projects all deal with climate change, as well as seeds and the intersections between agro-botanical and geopolitical histories. 

For this installation, I have made ninety-five* 'spirit tablets' out of reclaimed wood pallet boards, in a reference to the global systems of trade and commerce that evolved from the first colonial conquests, and which have been ravaging the environment since the latter half of the 20th century. Varying in size, I have made each tablet as an homage to one of the 95* native California plants in Alameda County that is currently listed as endangered or threatened by the California Native Plant Society. (This data comes from the California Native Plant Society Rare Plants Inventory.) One side depicts a drawing of the plant, based on documentation gleaned from the CNPS database, as well as the UC Berkeley University and Jepson Herbaria. The other side contains the following handwritten inscription: Hello. We are in xučyun (Huichin), in unceded Chochenyo Ohlone territory. I am often called [Scientific name + Common name] but maybe one of you knows my real name...

Originating in China, wooden 'spirit tablets' have been used in various East Asian traditions for centuries to ritually venerate and give thanks to deities. By acting as effigies for these beings — who could be ancestors, local gods, or more powerful entities — spirit tablets provide a conduit through which a supplicant may transmit their respect and gratitude in exchange for blessings or protection. Often located in temples or roadside shrines, I perceive spirit tablets as a way to not only honor the local deities of a place, but also to extend their 'lives.' For beings both material and immaterial, to be forgotten is to no longer exist. 

*When I had originally conceptualized and proposed a title for this project, there were 97 endangered plant species in Alameda County. By the time I set about to construct the tablets, the CNPS Rare Plants Inventory had been updated to show 95 endangered plant species instead.

NOTE: I will be offering these tablets for purchase on a sliding scale as part of a fundraiser after the show closes, on Sept 30. ALL (100%) of the proceeds will go toward the Sogorea Te Land Trust, to support the Ohlone peoples' continued efforts to rematriate their ancestral land. If you are interested in supporting this fundraiser, please email me at iam.czheng@gmail.com. 

ARTIST BACKGROUND

Connie Zheng is an interdisciplinary artist, writer and filmmaker who was born in China, grew up in the Northeastern United States, and is currently based out of Oakland, California. Her practice moves between text, drawing, painting, sculpture, installation, and time-based media, and she draws heavily upon methods of assemblage and recontextualization. Her work focuses on diasporic place-making and the political potentials enabled by fantasy as a means of community-building amidst climate change. She has presented scholarly work at the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art and exhibited her visual work around the U.S., including the Berkeley Art Museum and Pacific Film Archive, the Minnesota Street Project (San Francisco), and AIR Gallery (New York). She has been awarded residencies and fellowships from the Headlands Center for the Arts, the Vermont Studio Center, and ACRE, and her writing has appeared on SFMOMA's Open Space platform, Art Practical and in the Journal of Urban Cultural Studies. She received an MFA in Art Practice from UC Berkeley and BAs in Economics and English (Creative Nonfiction) from Brown University. She is currently a Graduate Fellow at the Headlands Center for the Arts.