Mixed media: mulberry paper, paper birch, a piece of fabric from my grandmother's collection, dried clovers, thread, and glass beads.

Rei Ukon is an interdisciplinary artist currently residing in Bethlehem, PA on unceded Lenape land. Ukon explores memory, emotion, and notions of nostalgia by examining familial archives, historical events, and personal recollections of a childhood spent between New York and Yokohama, Japan.

This work was created while I was undergoing my naturalization process to become a U.S. citizen, a shift in my status that grants both protection and privilege while nonetheless resulting in conflicting and difficult inner feelings. We are constantly witnessing the abuse of control, tension, and violence that borders and harmful narratives surrounding immigration bring. Perhaps one reason I am drawn to using organic materials in my artwork is for its literal connection to the earth, but also the memories that are held in them. I believe the earth bares witness, too, to what occurs atop her soil.