The Rooster Scroll
This is the artist statement for the Rooster 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 Rooster Scroll is about gender identity.
The Rooster 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 profile outline of an energetic Rooster mid-dance with two eggs at its feet. The background is filled with a gold school bus positioned vertically as if it's driving toward the heavens.
My family raised me to believe that, of the 12 animals of the Chinese Zodiac, the Rooster represents the attributes of punctuality, protection, good luck and fresh starts. I chose to use this painting to share about the ways I watched my widowed mother step into roles traditionally reserved for men in order to raise her children as a single parent.
My mother was an elementary school music teacher before immigrating to the United States. She loved it and her students loved her. During her first decade as a New American, she maintained the belief that it would be possible for her to step into that same profession in the American education system. When she realized that would not be possible for her, she pivoted and pursued another vocation that would allow her to continue working with children: becoming a bus driver.
She was first hired as a Bus Aide, a role that required a lot of physical strength and dexterity. After her years of strapping down wheelchairs for students with disabilities started to take a toll on her body, she expressed to her bosses that she wanted to work as a bus driver instead.
At the time, nearly all of the bus drivers employed by that company were white men, many of whom held the racist and inaccurate stereotyped perspective that she would be a liability as a bus driver because she was an Asian woman and “all Asian women are bad drivers.”
What I recall from this time was my mother’s ability to focus like no other. She made a checklist of steps she needed to take to become a licensed and certified Bus Driver, bought the books, took the courses and registered for the tests.
With English being my mother’s second language, she had to memorize the books in order to pass the tests because of the way the questions were worded. Eventually, she passed the written tests and driving tests and the bus company assigned her to her very own routes.
Every year, that bus company puts on an employee appreciation event. During the festivities the drivers are challenged to make their way through an obstacle course often including props like orange safety cones and ping pong balls strung from the ceiling of the garage. There were some obstacles that were more difficult than others, but after a few years, my mother would come home from these events cheerfully exclaiming she’d been the only one who could make it through obstacles without error.
In 2015, my mother invited me to attend the bus company’s holiday party for their employees. At this event, the owners of the company gave out awards and announced that their annual company trip for their top drivers would be spent in Sandkey Florida that spring. The top driver in the category of safety with zero accidents reported that year was my mom!
This painting speaks to the fluidity of gendered identities single parents and impoverished immigrants must exemplify in order to survive and strive for socio-economic success.
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.
