Chun An Huai
They/She/He
Chivago, IL
Chun An Huai is a multidisciplinary artist working primarily in jewelry, currently based in Chicago. They are Chinese American transracial adoptee, interested in the act of crafting their own heirlooms and sharing pairs of jewelry with someone.
Since childhood, I have been fascinated by objects found, gifted, and inherited. I am a Chinese transracial adoptee from Huainan, Anhui, and my work contends with what it means to give birth to my own heirlooms, drawing inspiration from objects passed down by family, with a particular interest in objects that come in pairs. What defines, qualifies, and distinguishes an heirloom for someone who lacks them due to the loss of knowledge of blood lineage? I make objects in 2s, sometimes not knowing where the other will go, but feeling assured that one day I will know who to share it with.
website.com
How does your creative practice reflect your experience of living and making as a BIPOC and/or 2SLGBTQIA+ maker?
“Being a Chinese American transracial adoptee, there are many cultural aspects lost and gained. I am always in a process of evaluating that which I honor and keep, and that which I choose not to interact with. The kind of jewelry I make is of materials that last a long time, and that have the potential to be passed down to someone. Since I do not know my birth family, I root myself among others in emotional and physical form, both with my adoptive family, as well as my birth family in an abstract sense. I think jewelry has the ability to do that. Being trans non-binary and gender non-conforming, I feel no boundaries in terms of how my pieces may be perceived gender wise and who desires to wear them.”
Brass, Poppy Jasper, Red Jasper, Red Sardonyx, Bone, Moss Agate, 8"x5" 2024What techniques, stories, or materials have been passed down to you, and how are you reimagining them in the present?
“Much of my designs and material choices are inspired by Chinese traditional decorative arts. Growing up in the U.S., it’s important to me to do more searching within myself and interpersonally, for what it is that carries meaning and not simply aesthetic pleasure. My designs sometimes directly reflect objects and jewelry given to me from my adoptive family. One example is a jade necklace given to me by my honorary Chinese grandmother Lida. (She was my grandmother’s close friend who took her place after she died when I was very young). For more than the past decade, friends and family have given me old jewelry pieces, beads, and other materials to create jewelry with. I can create intimate and sentimental work when I incorporate materials directly received from those who know me personally.”
How does your work honor those who came before you while forging new pathways for the future?
Anything else you would like to share about this work? This can be an important part of the process, sourcing materials, research, etc.
“My work gives physical form to the simultaneously first and third branch of my family, somewhere in Huainan, Anhui. Instead of borrowing, I take inspiration and make my own traditional motifs and shapes, because what is lost is changed. I have had the fortune of being able to travel back to my birthplace and begin a new journey of understanding the life and culture I left behind.
The intention of making jewelry is to offer intimacy between another person wearing my pieces and me. A relationship that has physical testaments can transcend the time we live in. Objects that get passed down may lose their original stories, but people will always create their own meaning so they serve their purpose for their time."
“Heirloom I and II are shared between me and my cousin Lii, one of the few Chinese people in my adoptive family. I gifted my cousin Heirloom I for their birthday in 2024, and made Heirloom II in 2025 for myself. They are a very important person in my life, sharing experiences being Chinese American and queer. The rabbit in their necklace is incorporated because they have had pet rabbits for a long time. The rabbit bead was actually given to me by one of the moms in my parent's adoption group that traveled to Anhui together to adopt back in 1999. She mistakenly thought I was born in the year of the rabbit (I am actually born in the year of the tiger), but I didn't want to throw it away. It was an important object that I knew should be given to the right person at the right time. That person happened to be my cousin Lii.
Materially, I like using these materials due because Chinese decorative arts have a lot of reds, greens, oranges together.
*It's important that these two necklaces be viewed simultaneously. In terms of the digital exhibition and there being a 3 photo limit per piece, please let me know if we need to lower the total amount of pictures down to format properly."
Photographs Courtesy of the Artist