Yu-Whuan

SH: You have 108 drawings. That is a very significant number in various traditions of meditation. I know a Yoga teacher who led her group in 108 sun salutations on the Summer Solstice. And certain Buddhists have 108 prayer beads with which they meditate. Tell me about your choice of that number for your work in this show.

YW: When you first mentioned 108 drawings, I knew immediately it was time for me to work on it. I already knew I was going to do a lot, even more than 108. But 108 is not just a number; it is a number that fits my process right now, my process of opening up colorful desire and honoring my heart. In thinking about it, I welcomed this 108 process as a kind of “keeping” or “cleaning,” a “retaining” or a “throwing away.”

... 108 is not a project about the colors, shapes or styles. Nor is it about letting desires loose. To borrow from Thoreau, it is a project “to set all well afloat.” This is important. It is a project about taking it all and writing it down, sending it out into the world, like a message well afloat, like the Japanese temple bell ringing 108 times at the end of the year. 108 worldly desires. The normal idea is to clean them. But my project is about sending them out to be whole, afloat, flying, open, transformed. The bell rings, then rings again, and keeps ringing. It is a kind of constant.

I am not finished yet.