Aubree Lawson

2022 Senior Exhibition Artists

Aubree Lawson

Art + Design: Graphic Design | Art History Minor

About Aubree Lawson

Aubree Lawson is a graphic designer passionate about collaboration and creating lively designs. She enjoys exploring and learning different media processes and incorporating that into her work. Aubree is getting her BFA in graphic design and a minor in art history at the University of Massachusetts, Dartmouth in the College of Visual and Performing arts.

made in china

Statement

made in china explores the identity and experiences of Chinese American adoptees who were given up due to China’s One Child Policy. This project investigates what it means to claim your heritage. Do you claim this heritage? As a Chinese adoptee, I have always struggled with knowing how much of my Chinese heritage to embrace because so much of my background, my roots were missing. I had the privilege to speak with six other adoptees to learn what their experiences have been with this subject and how they claim their identity.

Through this project, I explored what it meant for me to claim my Chinese identity, which is through my art and design work. Through design I can communicate my truth on the subject as well as some of the harsh realities. In this exhibition there is a floor to ceiling visual of a Chinese finding ad. These are the faces of children who were abandoned or taken away from their biological families. These ads were printed in newspapers, giving families sixty days to reclaim their child before they were put up for adoption.

In understanding where I come from, I found myself drawn to the arts that came from that area. The attention to detail and craftsmanship that went into the work was inspirational to me, which led me to detail oriented projects. In 2020 I got into paper cutting which became more so a meditative process. Part of this project was to make a paper cut-out lantern showcasing this craftsmanship that can be seen throughout Asian arts. I’d like to think my biological parents may have passed that hand craftsmanship down to me. Taking on that narrative gives me that connection to my roots and a way that I can claim this Asian American Identity.