Artist statement: Marks
As an image-maker formally trained as a designer, I have found my voice through semiotic interpretation. Exploring how different levels of meanings can be expressed through complex image layers is another creative goal of mine. I invent photographic metaphors that carry hidden meanings. I view my imagery as timeless visual poetry with psychological impact where viewers can no longer remain passive. Conceptualizing and resolving a solution is as rewarding as the seeing the result.
I have always felt that we have very little control of our lives. Therefore I enjoy the process of photomontage because I can randomly connect unrelated persons, events, and environments. Although my subjects may never have the chance to meet in reality, they are permanently bound within my artwork. By taking this approach, I find myself in absolute power to control and design.
Marks, the series included in this exhibition, attempts to interpret the unknown territory of alternate possibilities, in life and death. When life comes to an end, the few marks we made in this physical world still exist as bliss and as sorrow. Following my father’s death and the loss of my friend in a car accident, I pondered how there might have been a different outcome. Questions of how arbitrary chances affect our fates brought out traditional Chinese religious beliefs I learned throughout my childhood.
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