Artwork
Enter the Dragon
Artist
Jennifer Ling Datchuk
(American, born 1980)
DepartmentContemporary Art
Date2020
Dimensions65 × 16 × 5 in. (165.1 × 40.6 × 12.7 cm)
Credit LinePurchased with The Brown Foundation Contemporary Art Acquisition Fund and funds provided by Dr. Katherine Moore McAllen, Dr. Dacia Napier, Edward E. (Sonny) Collins III, and The Sheerin Family
Object number2021.2.a-b
Copyright© Jennifer Ling Datchuk
DescriptionRectangular panel that leans against the wall in a vertical orientation. The surface is covered in a mosaic-like grid of small gold mirrored squares. Near the top end, centered, a round wooden peg protrudes on which a pair of ceramic nunchuks hang.Label Text"I believe the personal is political and while one piece of art might not change the world, I believe art can be a call to action." —Jennifer Ling Datchuk
A pair of porcelain nunchuks adorned with a dainty floral motif hang on a mirrored mosaic surface, which integrates the viewer’s reflection into the artwork. Is it a call to arms? The dualities of masculine/feminine, strength/weakness, action/repose are manifest in Enter the Dragon. In fact, the Wing Chun style of martial arts—popularized by Hong Kong American actor Bruce Lee in films such as Enter the Dragon (1973)—was developed as a form of self-defense by eighteenth-century Buddhist nun Ng Mui, in part to ward off the advances of men.
Jennifer Ling Datchuk challenges the distinction between fine art and craft—traditionally considered “women’s work”—imbuing her objects with messages of feminist empowerment. The complex histories of porcelain and her own experience as a Chinese American woman inform her examination of identity and cross-cultural exchange.
(Lana Meador, 2021)Provenancethe artist, San Antonio; sold through Ruiz-Healy Art, San Antonio, to San Antonio Museum of Art, 2021Exhibition HistoryVisibilities: Intrepid Women of Artpace, Artpace, San Antonio, TX (2020)Not on view
The San Antonio Museum of Art is in the process of digitizing its permanent collection. This electronic record was created from historic documentation that does not necessarily reflect SAMA's complete or current knowledge about the object. Review and updating of such records is ongoing.
This resource has been made possible in part by the National Endowment for the Humanities: Exploring the Human Endeavor.
