Sherise Lee
Photos by Grace Duong
Where were you raised? Has the landscape of that place influenced your work in any way?
I grew up in the San Francisco Bay Area; suburban with easy access to nature. As a kid, I’d skateboard to 7-11 for slurpees. As a teenager, I’d hike around the foothills with friends after school and dance all night at psychedelic full moon raves along the ocean. The landscape of people in my youth has influenced me just as much, if not more, than the physical places.
Do you collect anything?
artworks/objects made by friends, crystals, tarot/oracle decks
What was the last thing that you fell in love with?
Recently, we went to our local gardening/plant nursery and they had bougainvilleas in every color. I fell in love with Sundown - with multicolored petals in a coral-salmon-pink-orange.
What do you love most about yourself?
That I am part of the Asian American experience - as an artist, mother, neurodivergent human, daughter of immigrants. I am part of my lineage - past and future. I am in there just by being.
Can you claim one gift that has come out of the Covid 19 pandemic?
Baking and cooking with my younger son. Last summer he took a French cooking class over Zoom and really got into it. We make all sorts of experimental recipes in the kitchen together now.
Is there a place or activity that helps you to access magic/ love/ god/ spirit/ the universe/ mother nature/ higher self/ the divine/ a power greater than yourself?
magic - tapping in to crystals and tarot
love - spending time with friends, loving up my family, snuggling with my dog
spirit(s) - channeling and simply asking to connect
the universe - looking through our telescope up to the planets, stars, and moon
mother nature - going to the ocean, stepping into my backyard
higher self - painting and creating with my hands
the divine/a greater power - meditation and breathwork
What books are you reading?
“Minor Feelings” by Cathy Park Hong,
“Dare, the new way to end anxiety and stop panic attacks” by Barry McDonagh
“Chris Ofili Afromuses” published by The Studio Museum Harlem of his show in 2005
“The Moon Book” by Sarah Faith Gottesdiener
What object do you hold most dear?
My sun is in Taurus, so I hold many objects dear a Clay Rice Cooker from Tenzo, my grandmother-in-law’s engagement ring, and a Crystal Talisman I made just for myself. I created a series of Crystal Talismans (and Pocket sized too) to be used in different ways: as jewelry for people’s space, as amulets for their environment, and as pendulums. They are imbued with protection, clearing, and different elements depending on the gemstones and crystals used.
If you could change one thing about our world, what would it be? Is there an individual or an organization doing work in this area that you want us to know about?
Abuse of power - of all kinds: by intimate partners, by government officials, by family members, by C.E.O.s, by the court system, by prisons, by humans over animals, by anyone who can’t comprehend beyond the CIS-hetero-white-supremacist-patriarchal-ableist normative, the list goes on and on... Free Form is a Non-Profit that is working to make structural changes for survivors by “dismantling the nexus between gender-based violence and financial insecurity”
If I was not afraid, I would…
Be okay about death and dying. Although I have definitely been in touch with my mother (since her transition from this earth) in all sorts of crazy and very tangible ways, I am still terrified.
All images courtesy of Sherise Lee
