Victoriassecret

Chinatown, NYC

2022

In collaboration with The Racial Imaginary Institute, Victoriassecret is an exhibition curated by Simon Wu for Helena Anrather Gallery, inspired by his eponymous essay reflecting on his relationship to his parents’ belongings, contemporary art, and ‘Asian American’ identity. Presented in three parts, the exhibition brings together artworks, personal objects from his parents, and a new essay to explore ‘the emotional landscape of class aspirationalism’—how the things that we value (and want to value) shape our sense of identity.

The exhibition design centers on questions of aesthetic clutter, identity, and what Wu describes as ‘stuff’ acting as padding for the internal organs to protect against the traumas of migration. Knickknacks from the curator’s childhood home are treated with the same attention as the artworks, displayed on undulating cardboard pedestals that respond to each object’s height and dimension. The design reinforces the exhibition’s aim to stage a dialogue between art and aesthetics of home by adopting the visual language of clutter—evoking the layered, improvised quality of a garage used for storage.

Client: Helena Anrather Gallery

Fabrication: Ryan Wolfe