Dream Thunderbird: Meditation on the Factory (2020)
acrylic on canvas 

digital video
running time: 6:55 minutes

Meditation on the Factory weaves together a part of the Korean diaspora in the American Midwest as told by my grandmother. Language becomes an achingly humorous struggle between my grandmother and I to understand one another as neither of us are fluent in the same language. Despite the barrier, my grandmother's tenacity pushed her through learning her job of assembling model kits through observing other workers. A recurring object shown throughout the film is a pink scale car model from her job, one that she gave to me as a kid. Meditation on the Factory explores how the hope of the American dream motivated my grandmother to earn a living of her own.