The Paper Menagerie

Exhibition Manager
Artistic Director
Artist Curator

The Paper Menagerie – Ken Liu

The Paper Menagerie explores paper as both a material and a repository of memory, identity, and emotion. From its long history as a medium for writing, documentation, and artistic expression across Asia to its everyday presence in contemporary life, paper carries traces of human experience. Inspired by Ken Liu’s story, the exhibition reflects on the paper origami figures that embody the protagonist’s memories of his mother, displacement, cultural identity, and the fragile connection between generations.

Through the works presented, paper becomes an archive of what is remembered, forgotten, and inherited. Its folds, marks, and imperfections evoke the layers of personal and collective memory, while the handwritten letter in the story highlights the loss and recovery of language, heritage, and belonging. The Paper Menagerie considers how something as fragile and ordinary as paper can preserve histories, hold emotional weight, and become a quiet medium of remembrance and reconnection.