Date of Award
Spring 5-14-2026
Author's Department
Graduate School of Art
Degree Name
Master of Fine Arts (MFA) in Visual Art
Degree Type
Thesis
Abstract
Alive in Translation explores in-between cultural conditions through my process of working with materials metaphorically, focusing on how they interact and intersect. By using paradoxical pairings—organic and synthetic, fluid and rigid, liquid and solid, flux and suspension—my sculptures and installations simultaneously hold multiple conditions. My process is grounded in my own negotiations with materials. By embracing both the material limitations and my own frustrations, I allow the materials to act as active agents in my process of making. The resulting forms exist in between the materials’ own tendencies and my own intentions. My thesis project, We twist, extend, and accrete in our prolonged dialogue, constructs a complexity that is both present and unresolved, remaining in a state of continual formation.
Language
English
Program Chair
Tiffany Calvert
Thesis Text Advisor
Amy Hauft
Thesis Text Advisor
Meghan Kirkwood
Faculty Mentor
Amy Hauft
Committee Member
Amy Hauft
Committee Member
Lisa Bulawsky
Committee Member
Jose deVera
Committee Member
Cheryl Wassenaar
Recommended Citation
Fu, Shiyao, "Alive in Translation" (2026). MFA in Visual Art. 50.
https://openscholarship.wustl.edu/mfa_visual_art/50