The de Young’s newest exhibition, Rituals of Care by Lee Mingwei, invites visitors to interact with the exhibit. The exhibition aims to create space for people to forge connections and heal through creativity and art. Many of the activations are inspired by the artist’s personal experiences, and while the core of many of the installations is traumatic experiences, the exhibition is hopeful and heartfelt.
Lee Mingwei is a Taiwanese-American artist, and Rituals of Care at the de Young is his first survey exhibition in the United States. The exhibition is decades in the making, including projects made beginning in 1995.
“Having spent formative years in San Francisco, we are delighted that Lee Mingwei’s first US museum survey also represents a homecoming for this internationally recognized artist. It’s a privilege to make Lee’s healing practice accessible to Bay Area audiences.” Said Thomas P. Campbell, Director and CEO of the Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco, in a press release.
As viewers enter the exhibition, three booths greet them, inviting them inside to write a heartfelt letter. You can either address the letter, and the de Young will send it for you, or it can become part of the exhibition, sealed or unsealed. This part of Lee Mingqwei’s work has been ongoing for years, and once he feels the exhibition has come to a natural close, the letters that have become part of the exhibition over the years will be burned together to close the exhibition.
The next room features a collection of paintings by various artists, who interpreted a source painting that hangs in the de Young. The reference was Our Peaceable Kingdom by Edward hicks, and the artists then asked two friends to interpret the painting as well. The result is a kaleidoscope of interpretations and styles filling the room in need rows of paintings. It invites the viewer to think of their own interpretation, or which one they are drawn to and highlights how each person sees things in a unique way.
The next room greets viewers with dozens of spools of thread decorating the walls, connecting to a pile of garments on a long table in the room. You’ll find a volunteer, or often the artist himself, sitting at the table, mending clothes. Visitors can have an item of clothing mended with the colorful thread if they wish to participate.
Mingwei’s exhibition extends throughout the de Young, and the activation, Sonic Blossom, is one of the exhibition’s most memorable and moving parts. In a gallery room featuring staples of the de Young collection, a chair has been placed in the center of the room. Occasionally, a guest is chosen to sit in the chair and be serenaded from their pick of Franz Schubert’s repertoire.
Mingwei’s exhibition is definitely worth the visit. It’s heartfelt, deeply personal, yet consistently relatable while inviting people to become part of the exhibition. Rituals of Care is on display now until July 7 at the de Young in Golden Gate Park.