ROUND 22 | Plastic Bag Lion Dance
By Jasmine Chock
8/3/2024 – 11/2/2024
Round 22: Plastic Bag Lion Dance combines the Chinese tradition of Lion Dance with the ritual of saving plastic shopping bags to create a new Chinese American Lion species. Collected plastic shopping bags surround the cage, combined with fringed plastic grocery twine, transforming the caged trailer into the lion’s body. This lion has many heads adorned with plastic bags and crocheted plastic yarn to ward off evil from all directions.
The Lion Dance originated during the Han Dynasty in Guangdong, China, where Chock’s ancestors are from. One legend recalls a destructive, terrifying monster, the Nian, that wreaked havoc on a village each year. One year a red mythical lion descended from the heavens and scared off the Nian, allowing the villagers to have a prosperous year, then it disappeared. The following year, the villagers dressed up in red clothes and masks, imitating the heavenly lion to scare off the Nian monster when it returned. They succeeded in slaying the beast. Lion Dance performances recall this legend to bring good luck, wealth and prosperity and frighten evil spirits away during the Lunar New Year.
While the Lions are traditionally red, a lucky color, Lions today come in many different colors and appear at various celebrations, including weddings, birthdays, grand openings, and even sports halftimes. One exception is the color white, which is a funeral color in Chinese culture. Lions that are only the color white are traditionally only used for funerals and must be burned afterward to send negative energy away and return the Lion to the heavens as an act of respect. Another time when Lions must return to the heavens by fire is when they become old or damaged and have served their purpose in protecting and bringing good fortune.
Plastic Bag Lion Dance reimagines the traditions of Chock’s ancestors, translating them with the consumable physical materials and rituals of the United States in the 21st century.
Chock has observed their family and others in the Asian American community ritually save and collect plastic shopping bags, almost as if they are precious objects, even through these bags are readily found and replenished.
In the process of making Plastic Bag Lion Dance, Chock held a plastic bag yarn workshop at the Asian American Resource Center on June 22, 2024, and a paper maché lion head workshop at The Museum of Human Achievement on June 29, 2024. Participants made parts of Plastic Bag Lion Dance, donated plastic bags, and shared experiences around lion dance at both workshops. She also consulted with directors and members of Lion Dance teams in Austin. Texas Dragon/Lion Dance Team, Heavenly Dragon Lion Dance Association and Summit Dragon and Lion Dance Team generously shared their knowledge of the history of Lion Dance, its importance to the community and showed their costumes for reference.
Jasmine Chock is a Chinese American artist based in Austin, TX. Chock works in a wide range of 3D materials, photography and video, including, but not limited to, sewing, ceramics, noodles, and plastic bags. In making art, she playfully explores the relationships between humans and the public, private and personal objects and spaces they interact with. Chock takes inspiration from observing everyday routines and traditions and subverts their usual purposes, creating humorous, uncanny relationships.
Chock graduated from The University of Texas at Austin with a Bachelor of Fine Arts in Studio Art. She has shown work at the City of Austin Asian American Resource Center, The Museum of Human Achievement and the Visual Arts Center. She is an artist educator and administrator. She has facilitated art-making workshops for youth, seniors, and adults of all abilities in Austin, TX, with printmaking, clay, paper maché, and fiber arts. Visit www.jasminechock.com to see more of her artwork.