Embedded Files
Acceptance, 2025
Acrylic and colored pencil, 18"x 18"
I'm half Korean and half Cantonese, and have lived in the United States my entire life. As a result of this, I've never fully learned either language and struggle with feeling like I belong to any one culture.
Each figure in the piece represents a different aspect of my cultural identity. The dishes on the table are a mix of traditional Korean and Chinese foods that I grew up eating, such as Korean banchan or Chinese dim sum and dumplings. Overlapping limbs and each self interacting with another represent my endeavor to further understand myself and my cultural identity.
Fragments, 2025
Acrylic on wooden blocks, 28” x 7.2" x 7.2"
In my day to day life, I often find myself struggling to balance my multiple personalities. I juggle these “characters” and am constantly trying to substitute one for another. By the end of the day, it often feels like I’m a mess of different pieces, and I tried to represent this with the scattering and mixing of Jenga blocks. The use of bright colors shows the diversity of each character, and as I continue to puzzle out who my true self is, this piece represents my efforts to constantly be improving and find the perfect balance.
Lineage, 2025
Acrylic, 18” x 12”
I’ve grown up hearing stories from both my parents’ childhoods, and the countless hardships they endured to be able to give me a safe childhood. For example, the cardboard box represents how when my father was a baby, his parents were Vietnam War refugees and put my newborn father in a cardboard box to act as a makeshift crib. The Korean dictionaries are the same dictionaries my mother used when she struggled to learn English as a twelve year old immigrant. All these moments culminated into my upbringing; I am the fruit of their labor.
Are We There Yet?, 2025
Acrylic, cardboard, clay, paper, 18” x 32” x 0.75
Throughout my childhood, car rides to school, practice, or vacation spots have held moments that shaped the person I am today. These rides, which are typically seen as boring by most, are what allowed me to form deep bonds with my family growing up. With the bright colors used in the mirror’s views, I wanted to demonstrate how the true value of these car rides is the time spent with family.
Still Beating, 2025
Colored pencil on paper, 12" x 8"
The various parts of the human heart serve different purposes: some pump blood, others filter it, but each of them have an important role in the organ. In a similar way, the different emotions and personalities that I take on emerge at different times. The blue and purple figures show dejection and defeat, while red and pink represent triumph. Layered sheets of paper envelope some of the forms, showing that personalities often harbor more than what meets the eye.
Burning Memories, 2024
14" x 11"
Savannah, 2024
14" x 11"
Shasta Pride, 2024
20" x 16"
Peace Through Empathy, 2024
18" x 12" x 0.5"
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