This project was my contribution to the exhibition "All Due Respect" at the Baltimore Museum of Art. The show platformed the work of four Baltimore artists who have been supported by the Joan Mitchell Foundation. 

Below is the exhibition text for my multi-media installation:

Cindy Cheng investigates the theories of far right-wing conspiracists to further her exploration of otherness and systems of belief and belonging. With an immersive sculptural installation distinctive in mood, Cheng references the misplaced anxiety of morality in an episode of the long-running evangelical Christian television program Eagle’s Nest Ministry, which here warns its audiences about the evils of Scooby Doo. Agents of alternative truths use sleight of hand to position themselves as exclusively aware of a clandestine reality. Fact has become malleable, creating a dangerously divisive and paranoid era that persists. Utilizing concealment and isolation within the furnishings of a living room or den, or within an exclusive contained monolith, or carried in ancient Egyptian poetry translated into ornamented beadwork, Cheng questions the accuracy of information used to determine “us” from “them.”

I have come to realize that the rhythm of my creative practice fluctuates between conceptual
curiosity and an intense need for material discovery. Over the past year I have swung towards
material discovery and have become obsessed with learning metalsmithing and jewelry making
techniques. Although my past work has been characterized by larger scale sculptures and
installations, I now want to explore the profoundly different gesture and relationship to the
body and to the mind that jewelry inspires.
Though I am currently preoccupied with process and technique, when I’m stuck for imagery, my
mind wanders back to an enduring interest in the narratives that shape our individual ideas of
reality – specifically to conspiracism, superstition, the occult, and those delicious and dangerous
moments when such things blur into the everyday. These myths are deeply ingrained elements
of personal and societal identity. Why not create personal adornments to explore these
themes?
At some point I would like to have these pieces belong to others, to be worn by them and
imprinted with their lives and stories. In this way the jewelry becomes an ever-evolving
amalgam and a reliquary for both its own embedded narratives and those of its subsequent
wearers.