When we travel, we have a chance to reflect on our origins while moving through a new environment. Where do we come from, and conversely, where are we going? When we return, what do we come back to?

In Origins, Jocelyn Shu presents work from multiple series of work created amidst the backdrop of navigating between cultures, geographies, and fields of knowledge. She is influenced by her background as both an artist and scientist — originally trained as a painter, then as a psychology researcher studying human emotions — and as an Asian American now living in Taiwan.

Central to this show are works from her Canvas Series, created by unraveling painting canvas thread by thread, then tying the threads back together. The canvas serves as material and metaphor — referencing body, identity, histories, and rebuilding. Alongside the canvas pieces, are recent graphite drawings from Jocelyn’s Orchid Series, in which the artist merges botanical observation with imagined bodily forms. These works engage themes of femininity, decay, and transformation.

In dialogue with this work, are ink sculptures the artist is exhibiting for the first time. Created entirely from dried ink, these pieces resonate with her Canvas Series in considering notions and histories of painting across cultural geographies. Finally, the artist presents Chapter 1, the first piece completed from her 81 Chapters series of wire sculptures. Created in 2012, the piece consists of meticulously hand-cut text from a translated version of the first chapter of the Dao De Jing. Accompanying the artist across several moves — from New York City to Boston to Taipei — and exhibited in these different cities along the way, the piece conveys a circular sense of time that ties the past with the present and future.