Empty Vessel - Jade is an oil painting by Chinese-born, Pittsburgh-based artist Su Su, whose fantastical, dreamlike visual language offers a perspective from the margins of intercultural exchange—a jittery, beautiful hybrid of mass media, pop culture, history, and memory with the capacity to shape our understanding of our interconnected world. The figure is in a state of transition between flesh and porcelain; while its jade-colored hands are transforming into the hands of a dragon. One hand is pulling the feather of the dragon, stretching it into a brush. By blending her self-image with references from Chinese art history, such as dragons and porcelain vases, Su Su’s works speak to the complicated and confusing experiences she has had as an artist immigrating to the United States. The distorted, swirling world of liquified iconographies reflects these intercultural complications.