UrMug
UrMug is my pop-up art project that aims to bring linguistic and cultural diversity to the UM campus. It’s made possible by a grant from the Arts Initiative through the Fall2023 Art and Resistance Theme Semester. Over the fall23 semester, I launched my installation three times at the school’s diag. There, I invited people to teach me their names in their mother languages. I wrote their names on the mugs, gave them for free, and take a polaroid of them. I sent away more than 300 mugs and learned more than 30 languages by the end . We heard inspiring conversations and had lots and lots of joy.
Language says a lot about our identity, our culture, and it's also where discrimination manifests. I was glad that this pop-up is helping people to reconnect with their linguistic and cultural identity and facilitate cross-cultural dialogues. I believe that a truly supportive & inclusive campus should represent and celebrate the different languages and cultures we have, and I hope everyone can feel proud to use their own language.
The birth of an idea
Coming to the U.S. in my freshman year as an international student and non-native speaker, I struggled with using English on a daily basis. Language barrier made it hard for me to find belonging, and I was frustrated that the school is not being supportive. Around that time, I got an assignment from my art studio course to make a speculative project proposal. So I did some research on foreign language anxiety, on language and its relation to identity, culture, and discrimination. I learned that linguistic diversity is a form of social justice. Thus, I decided to change the campus visual culture by redesigning student essentials, like bilingual Mcards and admission letters and mugs with my name in Mandarin, my mother language.
Take a look at my speculative project proposal
Beyond Speculative
That semester, I was lucky to met Amanda, who is a curator at the Institute for the Humanities. She became my mentor and worked with me to make this speculative proposal an actual public installation. We decided to focus on making mugs, because I know that many people, including me, would never able to find a mug with our name on it in any stores, so it would be meaningful to own a mug with our names in our mother language. After months of work, we turned our design into reality.
Polaroid Gallery
This project is made possible with the support from my mentor and friends. I'm genuinely grateful of the courage and love I received.