Colette Fu

NextFab x Leeway’s 2023 Art and Technology Artist-in-Residence, Colette Fu (LTA ’13, WOO ’18, ATR ‘22) will incorporate her paper engineering concepts, as a collapsible book artist, into other materials like wood and acrylic to create a body of kinetic work. With the recent uptick in hostility toward Asians, these pieces will delve into the history of Chinese people coming to America, particularly the discrimination, exclusion, scapegoating, and stereotyping that has been inflicted upon the lives of Chinese immigrants and nationals since the early 19th century. Initially inspired by German pop-up book innovator Lothar Meggendorfer’s reproductions, Colette’s experimental and interactive creations seek to subvert this traditionally white work and reflect and honor the diversity of people today, focusing on her Chinese sisters, and recontextualizing this history of movable books.

Colette Fu has been accepted to a month-long artist residency at Green Olive Arts Center in Tétouan, Morocco from October 3 to November 2. Colette will be studying under a local metalsmith, learning punch cut brass and copper work, often seen in Moroccan sconces and lanterns. Colette plans to merge Chinese minority designs and motifs with those found in Morocco, and intends to expand her body of work with more illustrative designs and narrative.  Colette also hopes to host workshops with children and locals, and with students at the National Fine Arts School, the only national arts institution of higher education in Morocco.

Colette is a photographer, writer, and teacher. She has been making unique pop-up books for over a decade. Drawing upon Chinese paper cutting traditions, she makes work that promotes respect, love, and the beauty in diversity. She teaches art making as a way to give voice to communities of underrepresented groups. Colette has facilitated art-making workshops with the YWCA’s Home-Life Management Center, CFEVA’s Intergenerational Project, Asian Arts Initiative’s Social Practice Lab, and the Mural Arts Program of Philadelphia. She hopes that her artwork and efforts will elevate awareness and help people preserve their unique cultures and way of life—especially those most at risk of being marginalized. Colette hopes that her work expands understanding and changes perceptions of what one “expects” to see of gender, race, and cultural differences.