Artists at Work Video Series: Colette Fu
Transcript
( gentle music )
[Colette] I’m Colette Fu, and I make pop-up books with my photographs.
I start with a two-dimensional image because I came from a photography background.
The image also has to have a good story.
I like the idea that you’re looking at nothing, just a flat object, and then all of a sudden you open it,
and this unexpected three-dimensional form just pops up at you
( ethereal music )
to spread awe,
to take people away from reality.
It’s magical.
( pensive music )
Several people have actually said, “You should stop calling it pop-up books. It’s more like sculpture.”
I call it pop-up books because that’s how I learned to make them and that’s what inspired me.
Growing up, I wasn’t proud of my Chinese heritage. I guess I just wanted to blend in and be like the other kids.
My first trip to China was actually right after college graduation.
During that trip, I learned that my mother was from a ethnic minority group called the Nuosu Yi.
So I was able to travel all around Yunnan learning about the diversity of so-called Chinese people.
I think of, you know, the saying, “Don’t judge a book by its cover.”
You have thoughts about something, and then all of a sudden it’s completely different.
With my work, I want to eliminate boundaries between people, between art and craft. These are all constructs that help us understand how we find ourselves in the world.
But at the same time, I don’t wanna be bound by them.
I just go where I feel like going.
And also, I wanna go somewhere where other people have not gone.
( playful music )
In Focus: Artists at Work
