“WHAT’S YOUR NAME?”

Group Exhibit @ Flagg Building 2022,
Curator: Vanessa Chen;
Co-currator: Ring Yuqi Yang

AUDIO Transcription:

“How would you like to be called?”

“I have no preference really” 

“But choose one” 

“I don’t want to, call me what you like and I will answer” 

hi my name is 

Hello my name is

I am 

I am - 

Ring Yuqi Yang 

Ring Yuqi Yang

Erin

Ring

杨雨锜

杨雨锜 

My parents name me after Su Shi’s poem 

“水光潋滟晴方好 山色空蒙雨亦奇”

the meaning of this verse 

is “the West Lake is beautiful on a sunny day, and it’s still amazing, even when it’s raining.” 

It’s really a mindset, and a wishing,

That they try to instill in me,

That whether it's rain or shine, 

One shall enjoy under any circumstances,

Even the tempest has its beauty. 

My name is Ring, My name is Erin, My name is Yuqi, My name is 杨雨锜，

Name long lost, eight years I have left my home soil,

Name new found, four years after four years,

I kept renaming myself 

As if i change my name, I can change my identities and life going forward too

It’s never that I don’t like my Chinese name, 

but one that’s not written or spoken in Chinese

lost meanings and elements in the roman alphabet

In Chinese culture we uses WuXing to add the elements that one lacks, to assure “wholeness”  - 金木水火土, metal, wood, water, fire, and earth 

I am a wood and fire dominant person based on 八字 (Eight characters) , and lacking metal

In Yang - there’s wood, 

In Yu - there’s water 

In Qi - there’s metal

Wood feeds Fire, Fire produces Earth, Earth bears Metal, Metal collects Water, Water nourishes Wood

I lived by a mountain, wood and earth gave me strength, 

metal and fire gave me endurance.

A name is the shortest spell. 

It is essential of one’s existence, the anchoring point,

And dangerous too for that reason,

To name something is to summon it to existence

To call upon someone is to allow them to exist in the space as you 

sometimes I feel like I don’t ever want to be summoned,

And other times I am terrified that no one will call upon my name again. 

To name something to know something,

How would my parents know how I’d turn out?

How does one know the true essence of themselves?

The name itself does not have meaning,

But certain organizations of alphabets and phonemes

We all agreed upon, the letters itself bear no content, 

It’s how we live our name that brings meaning to it.