Dislocat3d City
"My City from a Looking Glass" and "Mapping"​
"My City From the Looking Glass"
Memories of a place are what makes it personal to you. It is a fragment in your life, in your mind and in your heart. Hong Kong has been my home for the past 20 years and I have a love-hate relationship with it. It's a bustling city full of life, happy core memories and where I've met my longest friends and family. But alongside this, it contains sadness, frustration and isolation.
The cultural differences and discrimination I have experienced in my home country will forever taint this golden city in my mind.
This piece has a film photograph I took in the last month before moving to New York embedded into the canvas which I enlarged it, printed it and ripped it into sections, abstracting the photograph within the painting.
Juxtaposing the photograph - a portal to a snapshot of reality- with my painting- the way I subjectively view the world- was an interesting exploration for me. This concept will definitely be continued further in my future work.
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Dimensions :
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Acrylic paint and Photograph ( printed paper) on Canvas
24x36"
2022
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"Mapping"
Red string is symbolic in multiple ways. It played a large part in my personal life, as a child my mother made me wear a single red string around my neck which she has had blessings and protection spells put on their by the monk she was following whilst she practiced Buddhism. The red string bracelet/ necklaces are linked to good fortune, protection and luck. However, I was always told off during Physical Education class, as we weren't allowed jewellery for safety reasons... so I had to always wiggle it off slowly because I cannot cut or untie the string. ( I do not currently wear it anymore, and often wonder when was the last time I had this around my neck, or why I never put it back on again)
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I was never personally in tune with her beliefs, so this was a weird grey area of identity and culture I faced growing up in such an international city full of variations of culture, religions and beliefs. I always struggled with expressing my own beliefs and thoughts, especially to those close around me.
The red string is present in numerous religions. In Judaism, it is a talisman to help ward off misfortune, in Christianity, it represents redemption...
Here it is a reminder of the childhood bond I had with my home, but the cut strings show the growth I had to move from just following suit other's beliefs and have those of my own show through in my life.
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Dimensions:
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Paper on Canvas sheet
11.7 x 16.5"
2022