Immortal Dessert Dixie

As with Jiha Moon’s other works, this functioning lamp is packed with visual references. Motifs drawn from Korean folk art and pop culture are entangled throughout the work, ranging from peaches and peonies to fortune cookies.

On the body of the lamp, ceramic and painted peaches take multifaceted meanings. For example, the peach has long been considered a symbol of longevity in traditional Asian culture, but it is also a signature fruit of Atlanta, Georgia, where the artist lives and works. On the lampshade, the artist creates a mélange of motifs using bright, neon-colored acrylic screen printed on traditional Korean paper. Moon wittily plays with words and images by putting the Facebook logo together with a rabbit and a turtle—a typical set of characters in Korean folktales. Perhaps it is precisely how this juxtaposition of both familiar and unfamiliar images is translated that reflects Asian American experience marked by the dynamics of alienation and assimilation.