You’ll see only one balanced on the table leaf, but this work includes four sets of dinnerware. Each corresponds to the Chinese American immigrant artist’s family members: mother, father, sister, brother. The script "Chi-Not" embossed into the surface clay parodies the paper plate brand "Chinet," which Lo characterizes as “the most upscale type of paper plates one can buy.” Lo’s work reverses the idea of a convenient throwaway paper plate by fashioning dinnerware made of porcelain, exemplifying permanence and value in the face of her experiences of transience, moving, immigration, and making do. In particular, this work alludes to an easily packed up, mobile “picnic” for dining on take-out mid-move. The work was part of a collaborative project pairing two artists. Adam John Manley created the wooden box that forms the table and encloses the dinner set pieces when they’re prepped “to go."

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