About the exhibition:

Post-colonial theorist Homi Bhabha argues that, “‘in-between’ spaces provide the terrain for elaborating strategies of selfhood...that initiate new signs of identity...” "Scattering/Collecting” presents the work of Chinese American adoptees: Allison Carl, Talia Connelly, Madeleine Conover, Eva Lin Fahey, Jillian Hammer, Mia Kaplan, Katie Mongoven, Alison Staffin, and Ari Zuaro. Together, they have come together to create an exhibition that transforms the gallery at Da Vinci Art Alliance into a “third space;” a place to gather, fortify self and forge community.

Through ceramic, textile, print, and painting, artists Madeleine Conover, Eva Fahey, Katie Mongoven, explore the Chinese American adoptee experience and the ramifications of China’s former one-child policy (1980 - 2015). Collectively, the subject matter, methodologies and material choices of these works come together to triangulate transracial adoptees' complex cultural and racial identities, and the complexities of the Asian American diaspora. This exhibition also coincides with the launch of the first edition risograph cookbook filled with Chinese adoptee narratives and recipes.

"Scattering/Collecting” will be on view in Gallery 2 at Da Vinci Art Alliance October 30 through November 23 with an opening reception on November 1st from 4-7pm.

ABOUT THE FeATURED ARTISTS

Name: Alison Staffin,  常春泉

Current Location: Brooklyn, NY    (New York)

Orphanage Location: Changzhou, China

Instagram: @unicorncaptain

Bio: Alison currently lives and draws in Brooklyn, NY with her dog, Noodle (you would like him, he’s very cute). Her illustrations and comics investigate her trauma as a Chinese American adoptee: the pain and grief of abandonment, loss of family and heritage, and search for identity. She writes and draws from her experience and bodily memory to not only heal herself but also connect with others’ grief in all its forms. She is currently a student at School of Visual Arts’ Illustration as Visual Essay MFA.

Name: Madeleine Conover

Chinese name: 常春贺

Location: Philadelphia, PA

Orphanage Location: Changzhou, China

Instagram: @madeleineconover, @maddogdiggittydog

Website: madeleineconover.com

Bio: Madeleine Conover is a Chinese-American adoptee whose images and sculptures explore the Asian American diaspora through the lens of her adoption, a consequence of China’s former one-child policy. Her recent work focuses on discovering her biological family and building community with other adoptees.

She teaches printmaking at Tyler School of Art and Architecture and does freelance illustratration.  She also runs her own small business, Mad Dog Studio, risograph press.

Name: Katie Mongoven

Chinese name: 秋莲

Location: Detroit, MI

Adopted from: Shanggao, China

Instagram: @katiemongoven

Website: https://www.katiemongoven.com/

Bio: Katie Mongoven is a Chinese American fiber artist from Washington, DC, based in Detroit, MI. She examines the Asian American diasporic experience through the perspective of an orphan and adoptee during China’s One-Child Policy era. Through various fiber mediums, she explores identity reconstruction after loss and displacement. In her work, she seeks to reclaim and repurpose the historically Oriental and ornamental and emphasize what exists outside and in between the binary. The materials she uses are analogs of her own commodified body – an Oriental vessel, “Made in China”, yet crafted for Western consumption.

Name: Jillian Hammer

Chinese name: 佩华

Current Location: Philadelphia, PA / Seattle, WA

Adopted from Location: Nanning, Guangxi

Instagram: @jillianphammer

Website: jillianhammer.com

Bio: Jillian Hammer (she/her) is a digital designer and artist based in Philadelphia. She was born in Guangxi, transracially adopted at ten months old, and grew up in Louisiana. Her work is informed by her background in graphic design and photography. Through collage, Jillian appropriates ephemera from her adoption file to examine transracial adoption as an industry. She practices image-making to document her evolving feelings about her history and explore how it has shaped her understanding of self, family, and community.

Photo: headshot

Name: Mia Kaplan

Chinese name: 曉嫻 translation: Capable Dawn

Current Location: Philadelphia, PA

Adopted from Location: Zhanjiang, Guangdong

Instagram: @miakaplanmakes

Website: miakaplanmakes.com

Bio: Mia Kaplan is an artist, bench jeweler, and educator. Born in Zhanjiang, China and raised in North Carolina, she currently calls Philadelphia home. She received a BA in Studio Art at Earlham College in 2018 where she studied metalsmithing. She has around 10 years of experience working in metals and jewelry and now works full time as the Production Specialist and Bench Jeweler at Emily Chelsea Jewelry. In her own work, Mia creates jewelry and sculpture that explores notions of collecting, mythology, nostalgia, and whimsy. Her jewelry aims to be satisfying, well crafted, and interactive. Additionally, she teaches metalsmithing at craft schools around the country, most recently at the Peters Valley School of Craft.

Name: Eva Lin Fahey

Chinese name:  张雯林

Current Location: Massachusetts

Adopted from Location: Jingmen, Hubei

Instagram: @evalinfahey

Website: evalinfahey.com

Bio: Eva Lin Fahey 张雯林 (she/her) was born in Jingmen, China. She is a visual artist with a studio in Florence, MA. Eva completed a BFA in Painting from the University of Massachusetts Amherst within the Commonwealth Honors College and is currently an MFA candidate at Clark University. Eva is a 2025 recipient of The Project Evolution Grant from the Community Foundation of Western Massachusetts//Assets for Artists and was a 2025 Massachusetts Fellow at The Studios at MASS MoCA Residency. In 2023 Eva was ValleyCreates Capacity-Building grantee through MASS MoCA’s Assets for Artists program. Her work was featured in AGNI’s Afterlives: An AGNI Portfolio of Asian Adoptee Diaspora Writing and is in the collection of the University of Massachusetts Amherst.

Name: Talia Connelly

Chinese Name: 武露露

Current Location: Massachusetts

Adopted from: Kunming, Yunnan

Instagram: @apaintinginthepark

Website: taliaconnelly.com

Bio: Talia Connelly is a Greater Boston-based designer working at the intersection of textiles and industrial design. She received her Bachelor of Fine Arts from Rhode Island School of Design in 2018, where she found the key to life's happiness in the form of a loom, knitting machine, and closets stacked eight feet high with cones of yarn in every color and texture imaginable. Since graduating, she has worked in fashion, footwear, and 3D printing industries, fusing her knowledge of artisanal craft processes with automated technology. She also paints, writes, and occasionally teaches in her spare time.

Name: Ari Zuaro

Chinese name: 阳良

Current Location: Philadelphia, PA

Adopted from Location: Yangchun City, Guangdong

Instagram: @oatsntats

Website: arizuaro.squarespace.com

Bio: Ari Zuaro is a multimedia artist based in Philadelphia, whose work explores the complexities of existing as a member of the Chinese adoptee diaspora. Utilizing ceramic sculpture and assemblage, their work addresses themes of place and placelessness. Ari received their MFA in ceramics from Tyler School of Art and Architecture and their BA in Religion and Studio Art from Carleton College. They are an NCECA multi-cultural fellow and served as a fellow with the Quaker Voluntary Service focusing on building and sustaining community. 

Name: Allison Yan Carl

Chinese name: 饶东燕

Current Location: Philadelphia, PA

Adopted from Location: ShangRao, JiangXi

Instagram: @allisonncarl

Website: allison-carl.com

Bio: Allison Yan (燕) Carl is a Chinese-American illustrator from Philadelphia, PA. She is a graduate of Rhode Island School of Design (RISD), with a BFA in illustration. Her work is inspired by organic forms rooted in nature and storytelling through lush, detailed environments. She has worked for clients such as Cartoon Network, Magic: the Gathering, The Philadelphia Inquirer, and The Washington Post. When she's not drawing, you can find her reading, roller skating, practicing yoga, or volunteering in her local park.