Artist Statement

Courting A Man Who Doesn’t Talk began as midnight journaling to puzzle out a budding romance between a fortyish, Asian American single mother and a twenty-something white man. The relationship has lasted thirty years, but the larger social questions of equality and respect between women and men are still being explored, one day at a time, one person at a time.

Many men don’t have words to express what’s deepest in their hearts. Lover or husband, father or son, employer or co-worker—each has different styles of wordlessness and different reasons for it. In today’s polarized world, breaking through the silence is essential, especially across divisions of race, class, generation, culture, or religion.