I am Unity: Serena Hocharoen

Portrait of Serena Hocharoen in front of a sewing machine.

Unity at the Initiative: a multi-site visual exhibition and at-home experience centering art by and for Queer and Trans Artists of Color. I am:_____ is a blog series to get to know our partners.

Serena Hocharoen is an artist, designer, and teacher working in installation, print, zines, fiber, sound, food, and ceramics. The objects, music playlists, and spaces she makes are representations of dreams: dreams of remembering comfort, belonging, and transcendence. Originally from the Midwest, she is currently based in Philadelphia and holds an MFA in Printmaking at Tyler School of Art and Architecture, with a BA from Grinnell College in Studio Art and Chemistry. She has taught workshops at the Soapbox: Community Print Shop and Zine Library (Philadelphia, PA), and School of the Alternative (Black Mountain, NC), and has been awarded the Denbo Fellowship at Pyramid Atlantic Arts Center (Hyattsville, MD).

"My work is an investigation and recreation of objects, spaces, misconnections, and memories that have personally served as resting places for my Asian-American diasporic experience. I work in crafts like handmade paper, natural dyeing, ceramics etc. but also scavenge for identity-related trash like coconut milk cans and fruit peels. The objects, music playlists, and zines I make usually end up in participatory, immersive installations that question what diasporic utopia, comfort, and belonging might look like."

my website is www.serenahocharoen.com !

Finish this sentence with a word or two: I am a:_______

artist & student of the world!!

What's the most half-baked hobby you took on since the COVID-19 shutdown?

coding and starting (but never finishing) several Tumblr blogs

What are you binge-watching?

I rotate between Li Ziqi's Youtube channel and Great British Baking Show. I basically only watch food videos?

What's the last thing that made you laugh out loud?

I don't know how to use TikTok but a friend showed me a video by user @ahaha1999 (super special effects) and it really is super special!!

If you were to create a signature skate move, what would the move involve/look like?

It would probably involve skating while whisking egg whites by hand until stiff peaks form--I bake a lot of cakes and don't own a mixer so have gotten really good at whisking.

Anything you'd like to share with the world?

Thank you for doing all that you do!!!