My Story

My background in art started at a young age. As a child, my family immigrated to Canada from Hong Kong, and my whole world changed. Familiar sights of high-rises and busy streets out our windows were replaced with the lush green forests of the west coast and wildlife rummaging in garbage cans. Between ESL lessons and adapting to a new country, I was able to find comfort in creating art. I cherish the love and support of my mother who would take me on the long weekly drives to and from Richmond for art lessons. 

As I got older, I’d often be found hunched over our basement workshop table, meticulously painting mecha model kits deep into the night. Staying away from polished perfection, I’d always be adding grit and wear to my tiny figurines. Like the scrappy raccoons in our suburb, I wanted my models to have some fight in them.

 My practice slowly evolved, culminating in a study of Mixed Media Sculpture at the Emily Carr Institute of Art and Design, where I'd learn to blend metal, painting, and ceramics into my practice. Ever the maximalist to this day, I love to cram as much detail, weathering, and character as possible in all my art.

As a cultural hybrid, my identity was never really here, nor there. Like many young immigrants, my deepest memories of my heritage were tied to my nostalgic love of my home cuisine. Smells and tastes, like a decadent HK-style French Toast, jasmine tea, or lotus-leaf rice dumpling from our local Cha Chaan Teng (茶餐廳) would bring me back to Hong Kong.

It is this same sense of being out of place that gives me such an affinity with the “trash” animals that I have come to adore. I love their resilience, adaptability, imperfection, scrappy nature, and most of all, their relatable gluttony. 

My art is a celebration of food, trash, and love in all its diverse forms. Connection and empathy to different cultures and perspectives is at the heart of every piece I create. Through my work I hope to celebrate how people of diverse backgrounds can bond over our mutual love of gilded garbage.