Incomplete Poem (Heap), 2015-Ongoing Shanzhai t-shirt archive, wooden base 50 x 200 x 200 cm
Shanzhai Lyric is a body of research focusing on radical logistics and linguistics through the prism of technological aberration and nonofficial markets. The project takes inspiration from the experimental Englishes of shanzhai garments made in China and proliferating across the globe to examine how the counterfeit uses mimicry, hybridity, and permutation to both revel in and reveal the artifice of global hierarchies. Through an ever-growing archive of poetry-garments, Shanzhai Lyric explores the potential of mis-translation and nonsense as utopian world-making (breaking) and has previously taken the form of poetry-lecture, essay, and installation. They are currently in residence at Green-Wood Cemetery embarking on a new phase of research in conversation with the local community of feral parrots. In addition to being the original mimicry artist, the parrot is also the pirate’s accomplice.