Familiar Roots
RELATION TO THE THEME - FAMILY
This piece connects to the theme of family because it is a self-portrait in relation to my family. The term family tree is used literally, with the roots connecting to elements of my family and the sprout that will be seen above ground is my head. I have come to a thrilling discovery that I am the face of all my family members and relatives. To explain it, here is a bad joke: a mother, father, sister, uncle, aunt, grandmother and grandfather walk into a restaurant and the waiter says, table for 1- how is this possible? (Answer: I have the physical and personality traits of all of my family members!)
ABOUT THE ARTIST
In the eyes of her family, she is a good Chinese kid. She does her homework and she eats whatever is put in front of her. In her own eyes, she is a greasy teenager who took paint chips from Home Depot, stuffed them into her jacket, accidentally tripped in front of the cashiers and dropped all 50 paint chips.
WHAT THEY LEARNED AND INCORPORATED INTO THEIR PIECE
Everytime I return to China, for be it a week, I learn more about myself and my family than I will staying in Canada for a year. Over this summer, my cousin had a baby boy. This sadly meant I was no longer the baby of the family. My relatives started to talk to me about serious topics and disclosing adult secrets. It felt great to sit at the adult table! But it came with the price of reconsidering your entire existence. In 9 days, I learned that I look more like my father, I have my grandma's jaw, my motherโs work ethic, my father is a knock off of his older brother and I am a knock off of all the members of the Hao and Li family. This is represented by the roots connected to my head holding onto symbols of my family members.
