Artist Statement

My work begins with listening to ancestry.

I approach ancestry as a living relational force that shapes what we inherit, what is carried forward, and how we respond to the cultural and environmental legacies left behind. Working as both conduit and maker, I translate these relationships into form through embodied processes, intuition, and research into place and history.

I work primarily with discarded materials and heirloom textiles. Each material carries embedded histories and latent traces of human experience. Through deconstruction and reconstruction, I transform overlooked fragments into forms that reveal systems of value, memory, and erasure.

This process grounds The Descendant Series, an ongoing body of large-scale soft sculptures that embody ancestral presence through material transformation. Across sculpture, performance, and installation, my work reconfigures what has been overlooked or erased, creating new relationships between memory, material, and time.

Bio

Engaging material as archive, ritual, and transformation

I’m a Toronto-born, Portland-based multidisciplinary artist working across sculpture, installation, and performance. My practice is shaped by a background as a world champion gymnast, concert pianist, shoemaker, and innovation designer, forming a visual language rooted in precision, repetition, and technique.

I engage discarded materials as both archive and offering, where accumulation, residue, and trace become sites of transformation. During a residency with GLEAN and Recology, I worked within the Northwest Transfer Station, encountering waves of material flow and developing a ritual-based approach that honors each material’s embedded history and presence.

My work has been exhibited at the Jordan Schnitzer Museum of Art and the Portland Chinatown Museum. Alongside my studio practice, I contribute to global design projects, including Team USA’s jacket for the 2026 Winter Olympics and immersive experiences in Tokyo, Seoul, and Berlin.

Exhibitions & Residencies

2027

  • A World Within, Lan Su Chinese Garden, Portland, OR (forthcoming) 

2026

  • Lan Su Chinese Garden, Artist Residency, Portland, OR (forthcoming) 
  • GMA Architects Artist Residency, Portland, OR
  • Nike Air Milano Jacket and Team USA uniform, 2026 Olympics, Milan, Italy.

2025

  • Warp Speed, Center for Creative Arts & Culture at PNCA, Portland, OR
  • Just Playin' Around, Jordan Schnitzer Museum of Art at PSU, Portland, OR 
  • Environmental Learning Center Gallery, Recology, San Francisco, CA

2024

  • Coming Home, Revitalizing Old Town, 220 Gallery, Portland, OR 
  • The Dump Show, Hosfelt Gallery, San Francisco, California
  • SATIRE, Shaking The Tree Theatre, Portland, OR 
  • Cuts Across: Artists Respond to Lived Intersection, Carnations Contemporary
  • We Wrote This With You in Mind, Inside the Box Gallery, Portland, OR

2023

  • Regenerations, Portland Chinatown Museum, Portland, OR
  • Ode to San Francisco, Four Chicken Gallery, San Francisco, CA
  • Glean, Recology, Parallax Art Center, Portland, OR

2022

  • Metaverse Biennale SIKKA Art & Design Festival, Dubai, United Arab Emirates

Awards, Publications, & Talks

2025


2024

2023

  • Sustainable Fashion Lecture, Portland State University, Portland, OR
  • Asian American Art Talk, Portland Chinatown Museum, Portland, OR
  • Shed Panel Art Talk - The ReBuilding Center, Portland, OR

2022

  • Divide Magazine, Vol 4
  • Zerowaste Workshop - Danielle Elsener, Portland, OR 

2016 Shoemaking Apprenticeship - Nassier Vies Studio, Toronto, ON 

2015 Titanium Grand Prix winner, Cannes, France

2015 Shoemaking Workshop - Shoe School, Port Townsend, WA

2014 Leather Manipulation - Chicago School of Shoemaking, Chicago, IL 

2005 Gymnastic World Championships, Eindhoven, Netherland

2003 Gymnastic World Championship, Hannover, Germany

Hey!

If you’re interested in collaborating, I’d love to hear from you.

© 2026 Joshua Sin

All Rights Reserved