Artist Statement
My paintings deal with my memories and experiences of dual histories, one of my native country of China, and the other of my subsequent journey in America, where I currently reside. I grew up in Shanghai during the Cultural Revolution, a time of social unrest, widespread propaganda, violence, and expected obedience to authority that led me to question the place of the individual self in relation to its society. In my paintings, my images revolve around tensions surrounding coexisting and conflicting elements of past and present social environments. I am interested in dualisms such as the preservation of history and erasure, political structures and the individual, belonging and alienation, and material body and soul. I use symbols of construction, detritus, ritual, subtle violence, and ambivalence to reference the emotional effect of being caught in the middle of uncontrollable forces, both in the present time in America and in my experience of the Cultural Revolution years. I pull from my photographic archive and combine different spaces and times to create a build up of moments.
