Hero Story: The Working Hands of Monyee Chau

Raised in their grandparent’s Chinese seafood restaurant, Monyee Chau (they/them) is an interdisciplinary artist that works across mediums to speak to themes of labor, Chinatowns, grief, and human connection. Working within digital illustration to pay the bills, receiving the NHU grant money has allowed them to step into the world of ceramics, re-establishing their connection back to the Earth during an ever-increasing dependency on artificial intelligence around them. “Ceramics are a practice I’ve always wanted to connect with– In the Chinese folk creation story, the goddess Nüwa, individually sculpts humans through mud. I believe that in a time of such constant trauma and pain, I feel as though it’s important for us to turn back to where we came from; the mud of this Earth.”