In 雯 Wen, Julia Hung's first U.S. solo exhibition, delicate copper wire sculptures take on the visual language of weather, evoking clouds, drifting currents, and the mutable bodies of marine creatures.
Hung meticulously crochets and handweaves fine copper wire into an intricate, translucent mesh that resembles lace, fabric, or delicate organic tissue.
The resemblance to colorful clouds holds a deeply personal significance for Hung, whose Chinese birth name, 雯 Wen, describes precisely these atmospheric patterns. The character combines 雨, meaning rain, with 文, meaning pattern or markings, to evoke clouds that are patterned or many colored.
As a child, Hung resisted this name, as it seemed to carry her family's expectations of who she ought to become. After moving abroad, she began using Julia, finding in its relative anonymity a freedom from those expectations. Years later, she finds herself unexpectedly returning to her birth name and its evocative imagery. It is as though she has instinctively found her way back to 雯 Wen, giving the name she once set aside a form and shape of her own.