magic mirrors is a photobased exhibition by interdisciplinary artist Jamie Ho. When a beam of bright light hits the convex, polished surface, an image is reflected onto the wall. This is a description of a magic mirror, an object from the Han Dynasty, and one that is synonymous with how Euro-America views China: both technically advanced and shrouded in mystery. Like magic mirrors, Ho’s work uses GIFs, sculptures, new media, and installation to generate mirror images that trouble the long history of public spectacle and display of Chinese American women and femme bodies. Ho’s magic mirrors generate a world that prioritizes queer modes of joy, humor, and play as an act of resistance against assimilation into the hegemony of American culture. The lighting studio becomes a stage for drag performances that question patriarchal norms of gender through moments of failure. Her assemblages and acrylic sculptures reference historical and current Chinese diasporic objects as a method of reimagining connections to her ancestry and demonstrate the resourcefulness of her upbringing.  In her work, she’s creating an interruption to these narratives by critiquing the power structures that render her body as a displayed ornament. Ho projects GIFs of her body onto the reflective surfaces of my sculptures to multiply her image across the space, creating ephemeral and ghostly afterimages, a pervasive haunting of the many versions of her body. The gestures, the hovering hands in pantyhose and fake nails on the back of heels expose the monstrosity of Eurocentric control; yet in the fragmentations, and the forward and backwards acceleration within her loops, the gestures and rituals become interventions that reject the pressure to fit into Western societal beauty standards. Instead, Ho’s work invites you into an alternate world that glimmers, sweats, and seeps as offerings are consumed and refilled.

About the Artist

Jamie Ho is an interdisciplinary artist and educator from Fort Myers, Florida. Her art practice engages with video, photography, new media, and installation to investigate the long-term impact of assimilation and cultural bereavement through references to ancestral Chinese traditions and artifacts. Her work troubles the history of public spectacle and display of Asian American women, using performance and lighting studio to challenge societal expectations of gender roles and performance.  

Ho holds an MFA from the University of Nebraska-Lincoln and received her BFA from the University of New Mexico. She recently exhibited works at Westbeth Gallery, Houston Center for Photography, ChaShaMa, and Stove Works. She has been included in the 2023 Silver List and was awarded the 40th Center Annual Beth Block Honorarium by Houston Center for Photography. She was an Artist-in-Residence at Bemis Center for Contemporary Arts, Visual Studies Workshop, ACRE Residency and Vermont Studio Center. Ho is currently an Assistant Professor of Art at Florida State University.