I pursue contemporary and indie art and my artworks stem from my prior experiences, feelings, and philosophical thoughts around life and death. My
illustrations demonstrate the differential effects of emotions throughout an individual’s stages of life, including suffering and celebrations. Personal life
matters and complex relationships with friends, family, and society affect people’s lives in indescribable and intangible ways. As an immigrant who has
traveled across different parts of the world, I lacked belongingness and came across many hardships and challenges but eventually became accustomed to living a nomad life. My illustrations are reflections of one’s complicated feelings and incomplete life journeys. I am motivated by drawing and weaving versatile feelings and thoughts together using symbols and colors. My illustrations portray rocks, stones, people, and the environment, the ocean. The history behind rocks goes back centuries: rocks represent the foundation of life, and they have existed since the very beginning of the earth. They can be heavy and rigid but also stable and immutable.
For instance, being stuck underneath the heavy rocks is a presentation of diverse stress factors and hardships that weigh down people’s lives. Additionally, in Buddhism, after the cremation of monks or followers, Buddhist relics, sari, crystal, or pearl-like small stones appear. These stones serve as a legacy of the person and an outcome of the Buddhist’s life-long journey. Although faith requires believing without seeing, sari tangibly shows the level of one’s endurance, hardships, and meditation to others, and this results stage only comes after death. Ironically, people cannot observe their own sari. Ocean represents a bottomless pit, the world of the unknown, and an endless horizon. There are numerous possibilities, but there is also the fear of not having a boundary. Take a moment to let everything pass, drop the heavy rock, and recover and celebrate life.
