a house of small altars
Presented at Edge Zones Gallery - 3317 NW Ave Cir, Miami, Florida
February 7th to March 21st, 2026
Curated by Sophie Bonet
The Gathering
Porcelain soup spoons, ink, hilo pabilo (Panamá)
110.5” x 49” x 43”
he Gathering is an immersive installation of hand-painted porcelain soup spoons suspended at eye level with hilo pabilo brought from Panama. The soup spoon—common in Chinese households—is a vessel of nourishment and intimacy, often associated with feeding others and acts of care.
Each spoon bears a word in Chinese, Spanish, or English, reflecting the artist’s multilingual, diasporic identity. These words name emotions that arise around cooking, sharing, and receiving food—love, obligation, patience, exhaustion, joy. Meaning is cumulative; it emerges through repetition.
The work is conceptually grounded in the number 520, which phonetically resembles wo ai ni (“I love you”) in Mandarin and refers to May 20, an unofficial Valentine’s Day in China. Here, love is not a declaration but a practice—enacted through daily labor and sustained over time.
Presented in partial form due to spatial constraints.
Utter Devotion
Incense sticks
82” round x 6”
Utter Devotion functions as a threshold within the exhibition. Composed of more than 5,000 incense sticks, the work draws from MaiYap’s memory of her mother’s daily offering of three incense sticks before her god Guan Yu, revered for loyalty, integrity, and protection.
Although raised Catholic in Panama, this private act of devotion endured quietly within the home. In Chinese cosmology, the square symbolizes Earth and the circle Heaven—stability and eternity held in balance. Here, devotion is understood not as belief alone, but as daily practice.
OVER THE MOON
Sculpted mooncakes, textile nest (China & Panama)
43” x 18” x 13”
Over the Moon consists of sculpted mooncakes resting within a nest of textiles from China and Panama. The nest introduces softness, shelter, and touch—evoking clothing, domestic interiors, and maternal care—while the interwoven fabrics form a physical site of hybridity and protection.
The installation is conceptually grounded in the number 520. Mooncakes are traditionally exchanged during the Mid-Autumn Festival, symbolizing reunion and cyclical time; historically, they also carried hidden messages used to coordinate resistance. Arranged like a harvest or altar, the mooncakes speak to longing across distance and cultural memory preserved through repetition—each one a silent message, held rather than displayed.
Presented in partial form due to spatial constraints.
las poroteras
Rice cups, beans, organza
32” x 60.5” x 4”
In its original rendition, Las Poroteras presents 88 sculptural vessels made from Chinese rice cups filled with beans and wrapped in organza. Rice cups occupy a specific place in Chinese foodways, offering a practical solution for eating rice with chopsticks while symbolizing sustenance, nourishment, and daily care.
The work is conceptually grounded in the number 88, which in Chinese numerology signifies double happiness, prosperity, and continuity. Painted in blue and white in the style of Ming dynasty ceramics, the cups feature imagery drawn from the artist’s childhood in Aguadulce, Panama—palm trees, roosters, fish, jungle landscapes, and the islands of San Blas. These motifs resist singular cultural origin, reflecting the artist’s Chinese–Panamanian upbringing.
The beans reference fertility, agriculture, and the labor of women who sustain households and communities through cultivation and care. Placed within delicate organza bags, they transform the vessels into offerings—honoring matrilineal knowledge carried through repetition and everyday ritual.
Presented in partial form due to spatial constraints.