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Artist Statement

The most important relationship in my life is my relationship with my mother and the art that I create explores the complexities of that dynamic. In my work, I extrapolate personal memories and experiences to capture what it is to exist as a woman, especially a Chinese woman. My work combines traditional and digital mediums to investigate feminism, grief and generational trauma. Through my art, I attempt to understand the dialectics contained within womanhood, the conflicting wish to be strong, independent, ruthless, but also kind, soft and gentle. I want to simultaneously depict rich and vibrant beauty, but also guttural, grotesque ugliness. The work I have done also plays with rigidity and structure that is informed by my heritage as a Hakka and Cantonese woman. These themes conflict with the desire to be free and spontaneous that I believe is innate to all people. As a Chinese woman, I feel constantly torn between my duty to my legacy and culture, and my hope to be authentically myself and pursue the things that bring me joy. I seek connection and yet long for individuality. 

I am frequently drawn to worldbuilding as a way to inform my art. I love to create deep, full realities that I can fill with characters and build narratives around. Whether I am using traditional, digital or a combination of the two mediums, I aim to tell a story and depict movement, change or growth in physical, emotional or psychological areas. This motion may be contained within the final piece, for example an animation, or within a process of work, like moving between physical and digital spaces. 

A great deal of my work has been influenced by Studio Ghibli and the way they are able to create fantastical but grounded worlds and complex characters. I am particularly inspired by the way they balance action and moments of quiet. I also draw from the arts of my culture and my multiple identities. I love the ornate detail and rich history of Chinese art that is used to tell the stories of our mythology. In my most recent animation, The Goddess, I tell the story of my mothers experience at my grandmother's funeral. In this work I play with pacing and artistic style whilst still telling a very personal but fantastical story. At the beginning of the short the protagonist is shut down and too numb to process the grief of losing her mother. In these sections, the story progresses slowly and time seems to slow to a crawl. Only with the help of the spiritual embodiment of grief is she able to remember her mother in all her complexity, and finally mourn her loss. In these sections, the imagery is constantly shifting and changing between the literal and the abstract. These stylistic differences help separate the rich fantastical inner world from the more reserved, grounded real world. 

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