Forthcoming | Glyphs for Reverie: Queens Museum

For Maia Ruth Lee’s Large Wall Commission at the Queens Museum, the artist will revisit her glyph series, composed of salvaged steel architectural scraps fused together to create a new lexicon. Originally ornamental embellishments for fences, doors, and windows from the city’s landscape, these metal pieces found at Queens ironwork shops are transformed by Lee through an intuitive welding process. 

The materiality of these glyphs speak to a diasporic experience: forged from steel mined abroad, the metal fragments each retain their decorative flair despite being removed from their former architectural structures. When re-configured together as glyphs, they metamorphose into something new, opening up narratives of perseverance and possibility. Installed in Queens where multilingual and immigrant communities are core to the borough’s identity, Lee’s Large Wall Commission proposes a new visual vocabulary of resilience. 

This exhibition is organized by Sarah H. Cho, Associate Curator.