As an Asian immigrant to Canada, I use my own life experiences to express the wonder, struggle, and emotion that come with adapting to life in a new country. This story is told through an imagined character of myself who is surrounded with symbolic pieces of the tale. These symbols, while having specific relevance to me, will be recognizable to most viewers when filtered through the remembrances of their own life.

My character has smiling eyes, a beautiful body and a youthful look. One could find some similarity to the face of Buddha in the expressions of friendliness and caring. This visual appearance represents my positive attitude in encountering the pressures and difficulties of life.
Color plays a major symbolic role. My character is a vibrant yellow, a reflection not only of the cast of my skin as a Chinese woman, but also my inner golden strengths -passion for a new life, perseverance toward my goals; inside of me there is value, purity, and light. The surrounding world is an almost black and white contrast to this golden color.
Food is the symbolic balance to the character in my work. It is life's foundation, the first concern - without food there is despair and death. Yet better food is a symbol of a better life, and is a clear mark of the achievement that we strive for. It is used as decoration on the characters to mark it's importance as both sustenance and motivation.

The brushstroke is clearly visible in my art. The very act of creation of the work is recorded and built upon, in the same way that my life has been formed. Proudly displaying each effort, each challenge, each high and each low, for the viewer to absorb in an emotional sense.

Each piece that I create is a part of the same story, and it is a story in which we all play a role. I think that is the reason that I create it - to stir in others an awareness of ourselves in a sometimes cold and troubled world. To remember our heart of gold.