"My work is an ongoing exploration of cultural heritage, documentation, and experimentation. Papercut, a traditional folk-art technique that has been practiced in my family for multiple generations, is the unifying element I employ throughout my canvas, sculpture, and public art works.
I employ papercut to create compositions that emulate and deviate from traditional Chinese painting, and that tells the story of my immigrant journey, and of those with shared experiences. I incorporate materials of personal significance as media, including immigration documents, immigrant-owned restaurant menus, and magazines advertisements that encapsulate the American Dream. These materials transform through the application of papercut into buildings, vehicles, rocks, trees, and they layer on top of each other to create mountains and natural formations across expansive landscapes. “Cross the water and climb the mountains” is a phrase from the ancient Chinese classic text, the Book of Ode. Historically the phrase is meant to express a long and challenging journey, which reflects parts of my experience as a first-generation immigrant, and to which I am supplementing by making inferences towards audacity and aspiration. The base materials I employ imply motifs and narratives, without shuttering or narrowing the focus of the viewer solely to this area and their contents. They allow underlying issues and ideas to have context that is both explicit and part of a larger content.
My sculpture and public art practice is about fostering community engagement and civic involvement. Through direct collaboration with the public, we collectively explore, rediscover, and examine local culture and heritage.
Coming from a family of traditional Chinese artists and cultural historians, and having studied and now residing in the United States, I make references to traditional Chinese landscape painting, as well as acknowledging the influence Western art has on my work. My work explores Here and There, the two poles of culture and influence that have shaped me as an artist. For a first-generation immigrant, this is the experience of place and culture, where both bleed into each other and color our journey."