Digital Technology, Sandie Yi

Verbal Description

Sandie Yi

Digital Technology

Taiwanese-born, Chicago-based artist Sandie Yi’s creative practice in handmade body adornments engages with aesthetics, ethics, and the complexities of the disabled bodymind. Reflecting on ways ableism determines a person’s worth based on their functional ability, including effectiveness and efficiency, and how ableism impacts artists’ approach to utilitarian design work, Digital Technology documents the physical and emotional labor of Yi’s existence as she interacts with the world. For her first solo exhibition in Chicago, Yi employs playfulness and humor to subversively create a new set of norms both in the art world and in everyday life. Support for Digital Technology is provided by the Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts, the Illinois Arts Council, the School of Art & Art History, the College of Architecture, Design, and the Arts, and the University of Illinois Chicago.

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Mileage, 2024

Dead callus flakes, thread, fabric, resin, glass petri-dish

Small pouches made with fine mesh fabrics are positioned in a line, enclosed by a clear acrylic case
in the shelf. The semi-transparent quality of the fabric allows viewers to see the dead skin flakes inside each pouch. There are also dead skin flakes sewn into the exterior of the pouches. These flakes are mostly in light tan, yellow, gray and white with visible skin lines and cracks. Each pouch has pink and white stitches with a few burgundy colored stitches scattered. A pile of hardened skin flakes accumulates on a shelf at seated eye level. These flakes vary in colors of light tan, yellow, gray and white. Some flakes curve while some are flat. Some have clear skin lines. Above the pile of skin flakes, there are 19 glass petri dishes asymmetrically mounted to the wall. Inside the petri dishes, dead callus flakes are glued down by clear epoxy resin.

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Bird between the ring & the index, 2025

Silicone, plastic

A group of rings with a single silicon finger erecting on top of each ring. The fingers are the exact replicas of the artist’s own fingers with large knuckles. The fingers have a human-flesh like quality and they capture the fine skin lines, textures and fine scars in peachy skin tone, beige and semi-transparent pale ivory. Each white chunky plastic ring has two holes designed for the artist’s two fingers. The bodies of the ring have an organic contour which fills the negative space between the artist’s fingers and palm. Tiny white plastic beads in small clusters are positioned on the exterior of the ring bands and around the silicone fingers.

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I am sorry that you have five fingers, 2025

Sponges, plastic, silicone, glass jars

Several store-purchased sponges and various jars and glass containers are scattered on a shelf with a granite surface. The sponges are all altered to fit the artist’s hand, some are on or in jars, some propped up next to them, and some loose on the shelf. The sponges vary in shape and modification, including a rectangular sponge with two pink rings, one on the coarse green side and the other on a soft yellow side of the sponge; two sponges in the shape of a hand with two bunny-ear-like fingers, one in bright light green and one in blue. They each have a slit for the artist’s hand to insert. A round sea sponge has a finger hole in the middle, the hole is framed by tiny white plastic beads. A light yellow sponge with a coarse pink back has two holes serving as the pair of eyes for the artist’s face-like sponge brand,
Scrubby Mommy. It has a wavy top for hair and a pair of long fake eyelashes that are glued on top of the eyes. A ring with two finger holes is topped with several pink and orange square sponges. There are two bottle brushes made with replicas of the artist’s hands in pink and orange silicon. The hands have a long rod-handle attached to the wrist. One hand has tight clusters of plastic bristles positioned on the tip of the fingers. The other bottle brush has lines of plastic bristles that resemble mohawks on the tips and the sides of the fingers.

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Digi – toe Technology: Ball Launcher, 2025

Silicone, plastic

On a low podium, about half a foot off the floor, a bright red ball launcher stands on a small section of plastic grass. The ball launcher has a long handle that connects to a replica of the artist’s foot with a piece of white plastic. The silicon foot has two toes and is semi-glossy, with a human-flesh-like quality. The toes with large joints curve inwards, they resemble the shape of a croissant. On the fake grass mat, the ball launcher stands upright next to a few colorful, small tennis balls for dogs.

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Booklet , 2025

Printed booklet

Two spiral bound booklets are available for guests to peruse. On the cover is an image of the artist’s hands with two fingers holding and scrubbing a mason jar. The black text on the cover reads, “Digital Technology,” in a bold, rounded, bubble letter font. The booklet is filled with images of the objects on display being used in practice. Modified sponges are used to clean dishes, rings are worn to raise a fake middle finger, and a dog stares at a small tennis ball between the toes of the ball launcher.