My artwork is influenced by the Chinese folk art of paper cut and is a blending of my interpretations of traditional Chinese designs into personalized figural compositions. I use symbolic color, pattern, and iconography to represent my Chinese American heritage. The combination of the paper cut with other media shifts the idea of space to both dimensional and flat. The figure exists in an ephemeral state, in between reality the mystical, to create complex and unpredictable visual space and depth.

These patterns represent the duality of my existence as a Chinese American. Depending on the moment, I teeter between how Chinese and how American I am perceived to be by others. This is represented by how patterns attach to the figure and surround it. The still figure can exist in a calm, soothing space or in a state of chaos and commotion as if she is caught in turbulent waves or stormy winds. The red latticework is the stable entity, the geometric severity straining to contain the visual hodgepodge. This captures the journey of who I am: my past, my present, and where I may go.

Paper Cutting process video