Part I: During my residency at Witte Rook, I took traditional Chinese Buddhist paintings as a starting point. Worshipping gods and ancestors was a common practice in my family growing up in Shanghai. I tried to paint a portrait of Guanyin as I remembered her from childhood — though I had never been taught how.
I began with traditional Chinese ink on rice paper, and gradually shifted toward oil paint, canvas, and finally black rope — materials I encountered through Western contemporary art. In the fourth painting, I used black thread on fabric to trace the Bodhisattva as I imagined her. No matter how I tried, the form remained abstract and indistinct.