The Dragon Scroll
This is the artist statement for the Dragon scroll, one of 12 paintings that make up the artwork series “The Audacity to be Asian in Rural America: we owe you no apologies” created in May of 2021 as a part of Springboard for the Arts’ Artists Respond: Equitable Rural Futures.
The Dragon Scroll is about the ancestral continuum and veneration. This painting is about my personal understanding and observations of ancestral veneration.
The Dragon Scroll
The painting itself measures 27” x 40”, but in its final form mounted to silk brocade, it unravels to 3’ x 6’. The painting depicts the outline of a dragon flying upward in a slithering pattern. In the background are pink and blue clouds at the top half and blue waves at the bottom half.
My family raised me to believe that, of the 12 animals of the Chinese Zodiac, the Dragon represents the attributes of auspiciousness, nobility, good luck, strength and power. The Dragon is the only mythical animal included in the Chinese Zodiac; made up of nine animals, the body of this beast can be broken down to: ‘body of a snake, the horns of a deer, the head of an ox, the mouth of a crocodile, the claws of an eagle, and the scales of a fish.”
Throughout my upbringing, I was encouraged to attend churches of the Judeo-Christian faith. For half of my school years I attended private Christian schools, and after my first semester of undergrad, I converted to Christianity and declared it publicly through baptism.
In the decade since then, my previous system of faith has been dismantled, my spiritual teachings have broadened and my desire to learn more about the faith practices of my maternal line has taken the driver seat.
In the fall of 2015, I made a return trip to China by myself. My mother coordinated everything and sent me off to stay with her older sister for what would end up being one month’s time. During that trip, my aunt and uncle brought me to see many of the iconic hot spots I’d visited in my childhood, as well as some new places. With adult eyes, I had the privilege of experiencing China with a posture of appreciation for the first time in my life.
My uncle took me on a daytrip to visit a buddhist temple at the top of a mountain. The hike was long and challenging, so much so that I assumed the number of people at the temple would be sparse. I was wrong; there were crowds of people filling the temple courtyard. Groups of elders were practicing synchronized tai chi, pods of children were playing, the majority of people were praying, and most distinctly, there were elderly men with extremely long paintbrushes bent over the cement slabs dipping their brushes in water and painting out calligraphy on the ground that evaporated in the sun.
In 2021, I was activated to create this artwork series and found myself asking my ancestors to guide my paintbrush to help me depict purposeful paintings. After I had conceptualized each scroll, I drew inspiration for each brush stroke from the calligraphic prayers painted by the elder men in the temple courtyard at the top of that mountain. Each painting in this series was produced in 15-20 minutes. The act of creating this series is a form of ancestral veneration for me.
This painting speaks to my understanding of my “place” in my ancestral continuum. The painting is divided into two halves with a blurred horizon. The blue waves at the bottom represent the uncharted waters of life, the pink and blue clouds at the top that represent the “heavenlies” - or spiritual realm, and the dragon represents the ancestral continuum that came before me guiding my course and empowering my actions. At the time of creating this series, my deepest desire in life was to bring honor to my family.
Nancy X. Valentine is a fiscal year 2022 recipient of a Creative Support for Individuals grant from the Minnesota State Arts Board.This activity is made possible by the voters of Minnesota through a grant from the Minnesota State Arts Board, thanks to a legislative appropriation from the arts and cultural heritage fund.
