04/01/2026
20 Shades of Blue
Xiao Faria daCunha
Reminiscence, melancholy, lingering sorrow.
Industry, diligence, perseverance.
Royalty, esteem, pride.
As many shades of blue exist in the world, almost as many complicated symbols the color itself carries.
In “20 Shades of Blue,” multidisciplinary artist Xiao Faria daCunha constructs an interactive experience that engages all five senses, thus resonating with the sixth and opening the viewer’s mind’s eyes.
The images were makeshift memorials, gathered from old magazines lying around the artist’s home or donated by helpful friends for the project, serving as compensation for the artist’s lack of photo documentation of her life in Shanghai, China. Each image was an emotional anchor bridging the then and now, there and here: a mechanism many diasporas moving through the world without family ephemera had learned to employ as they nurture their identity and heritage on a different land.
Loss was inevitable in the transfer process. It was also inevitable as one extracts oneself from their homeland and inserts oneself into another, building a home away from home, while mourning the loss of what home could’ve been but never would become. However, with loss comes growth, with absence comes possibility. Through various methods of embellishment, the artist builds upon the transferred image, adding colors, textures, shapes, forms, and references, infusing the borrowed/inherited images
with her personal touch.
“20 Shades of Blue” is an ode to the diasporic experience, being one of endless grief and hope, unlearning and relearning, deconstruction and reconstruction.
