Following the Reflections on Awakening series, her practice shifted toward weaving the intimate threads of her own life and family history into the work. I Am the Pond employs a delicate paper collage technique inspired by traditional Chinese landscape painting, with water serving as both a symbol of life and the feminine principle (Yin). In this piece, archival family photographs take the shape of lily pads—forms that, like memory, rise from the depths, symbolizing birth, resilience, and the possibility of renewal
Layer upon layer, the collage builds a visual topography of the psyche, revealing how healing emerges through self-examination. Each cut, placement, and overlap became an act of contemplation—an unhurried dialogue with the past. As she assembled these fragments, she confronted the question: What does it mean to be Chinese when home exists across multiple geographies?
The process illuminated the fluid nature of identity, showing it to be neither fixed nor singular but an ever-shifting interplay of personal experience, inherited tradition, and ancestral memory. In I Am the Pond, the act of making became a journey of re-connection—an exploration of how cultural heritage and individual self are not opposing forces, but interdependent currents shaping the same body of water.
"I am the Pond"
Paper, glue and acrylic on canvas
30" x 30" x 3"
Detail
Detail
