May Caiwei Chen
My childhood bedroom was always gloomy, damp, and depressing. In my culture, it’s said, “The loss of a loved one is not a rainstorm, but the prolonged dampness of a lifetime.” The few glimmers of warmth, amid my parents’ conflicts, dissipated as my grandmother passed away. My world shattered, like rubble pouring down from the ceiling, stinging my eyes and body. Still, I'm walking barefoot through the ruins of memory, searching for traces of good, though it may be in vain. In nostalgia and grief, I remind myself that death’s inevitable; but once our bodies decay, where do our spirits go?
May is a mulitidisciplinary graphic designer, visual art experimentalist and dreamology explorer graduated from the BFA Graphic Design Program at ArtCenter and MFA and Technology program at CalArts. She is passionate about narrating through communicative and interactive audio/visual via various practices including motion graphics, illustration, photography, AI/ML, projection mapping and interactive installation. Whether in the field of art or design, she often delves into the concept of dreams and subconscious, unmasking how they work as portraits of human natures, emotions, memories and identities. Her work often explores how a dream could be reinvestigated and rebuilt as an illusional sensory experience.