Rhiannon Fleming's piece focuses on the destruction and rebuilding of Chinatown after the 1906 earthquake and subsequent fire. Before the fire, Chinatown was comprised of cultural veneers on standard San Francisco architecture; after the fire, the buildings took on the decorative style of China, their showy character capitalizing on a touristic idea of Orientalism. She sculpted a model of the neighborhood that would represent its changing architectural identity. Her reinterpretation reflects the Chinese cultural valuation of the processes of remembering and retelling.
