I am a passionate developing artist. I currently explore a variety of mediums such as drawing, watercolor, ceramics, performance/videography, and my most favorite of all, installation work. I believe that visual art is a recording of a performance as it physically captures the movement of our hands and bodies' interaction with our minds. Whether our minds are projected into an outside experience or engulfed within the self, the way we draw and move is a performance, which is then recorded within the character of a visual element. My mission in life is to bring empathy to the arts through academia. I have not always had the opportunity to pursue my dreams. Many of us who are raised in non-western homes can relate to this: that our elders decide what we should do with our lives, that only a select few areas of study will ever bring us success. My father was from China. He endured political oppression and poverty. After working rigorously in academics, he was able to come to the United States in 1980 through the Friends of Nixon agreement. My father obtained a Bachelor of Science in Physics, a Ph.D. in Physics, and lastly, an M.D. as he decided to become an OB-GYN and own a private practice. When I was younger, I did not see eye to eye with my father not only because he was so hard on me, but that he scoffed at my artistic interests. Years after his death, I found the arts again and began to flourish within the academic world. In order to keep moving forward with my own goals, I knew that I not only had to forgive my father, but I had to understand where he came from. After researching the atrocities that occurred during the Chinese Cultural Revolution, I began to fully empathize with him.
Our histories and our ancestors histories are an integral part of us as individuals. Our histories are so much more than appreciating our cultures and understanding them. Our histories are about what affects us at the core and why. Our histories are about forgiveness for those who we love, but may have never healed from injustice, poverty, oppression, or violence.
Our histories are about what motivates us to create the remarkable collage from the cut up pieces of tragedy, the cut up pieces that we should allow to remain in senseless fragments.