Monument of Offering
Dana Lynn Harper

June 12th - July 24th, 2026

Opening reception: June 12th

The works in this exhibition explore the idealized ancestral lands I have never visited: Indonesia, my mother’s birthplace, and China and Vietnam, where my maternal lineage originates. Drawing from family history, cultural research, and historical art references, these locations are imagined rather than remembered. Landscapes are positioned behind gates, referencing the physical and emotional inaccessibility of my familial history. Through dreamy, constructed environments, I engage with compositional and symbolic motifs found in Chinese watercolor landscape painting, using the study of traditional craft as a form of reconnection. Wrought iron gates allude to systems of exclusion and control shaped by colonial histories, while also reflecting my personal experience growing up in an affluent white neighborhood. The fencing operates simultaneously as a barrier and as a structure of reverence and protection, similar to the way family history is often hidden from descendants.

Folding and cascading fabrics occupy interior spaces, evoking both luxury and the instability of memory, history, and inherited knowledge. Each window functions as an individual work, offering a distinct perspective on this fractured connection to ancestral lands. These window installations correspond to different times of day: morning, night, and sunset, using shifts in light and color to suggest the passage of time and the fluctuating clarity of familial memory. The rabbit, my Chinese zodiac sign, dances between worlds, representing my own spirit, a being moving between the past and future, an animal that carries the legacy and light of her family. 

Ritual objects and gestures serve as a means of connecting to the past while offering a prayer for the future. Throughout the work, ritual is represented through the presence of candles, both real and electronic. Across cultures, candles have been used as conduits between the living and the spiritual realm, serving as protection, remembrance, and offerings. Here, they activate the space by marking sites of attention and intention: honoring my ancestors, inviting moments of reflection, and creating an opening for communion between past, present, and future.