Hexagram of the Others
2021-2023
In this new series of paintings, I delve into the ambiguity of the figure-landscape painting genre, invoking a darkly cute aesthetic that challenges conventional expectations. This series embodies the spirit of my maritime renegade ancestry, who valiantly navigated the tumultuous waters of war and commerce, balancing the conflict between the ancient feudal empire and the intrusive colonial powers.
The series directly challenges traditional narratives of Asian women within the Western framework. It explores the uncharted potential of painting Asian nudes in an intimate and abstract manner. Through the prism of this series, sensations of sensuality, corporeality, and emotional depth are evoked, enticing viewers to engage with the innovative aesthetic and reflect on the deeper themes of empowerment and identity that permeate the works.
Drawing upon memories, dreams, and imagination, the paintings endeavor to amplify the whispers beneath the frozen sea of collective memory, illuminating the everyday poetry and resistance that lie dormant within the crevices of our lives. This series traverses the liminal spaces where the personal meets the political, where the ordinary fuses with the extraordinary, invoking an aesthetic of 'dark cuteness' that resists the suppressive influences of conventional expectations.
Utilizing this series as a vehicle for these narratives, I bring the power of visual language interwoven with layers of personal history, collective experience, and imaginative flights to light. In so doing, I foster a discourse that defies the constraints of temporal, cultural, and geographical divisions, reaching out to embrace the quintessential essence inherent in our collective human experience.
This series of paintings stands not only as a testament to the transformative power of painting and the potency of the personal as political but also as a manifesto of my identity as an Asian woman navigating the layered complexities of contemporary society. It is a celebration of my heritage, a statement of resistance, and an invitation to partake in a narrative that is as much about collective history as it is about individual experience.
Studio View
