About me
Two significant things impacted my life: My biracial background and my hearing disability. I was born in Canada to a Scottish father and a Chinese mother who was born and raised in Vietnam, and mixed marriages were a rarity back in the 1970s. I did sense much alienation during my childhood in Hong Kong in kindergarten and primary school, and later in England for my secondary education. My deafness became an issue when I started to wear hearing aids at age 10 in Hong Kong, and got better when I went to England where people understood my difficulty. After England, I went to Gallaudet University in Washington DC, where it is widely known as “the only deaf university on earth”. Thanks to my position between my European and Asian identities, I am stuck in the middle between the so-called “Hearing World” and “Deaf World”. Despite my deafness and biracial background, I can speak English, Cantonese and Mandarin fluently, and sign in ASL; unlike many second generation North Americans with Chinese heritage, I can read and write Chinese.
It was a long difficult road for me to become an artist, but this was my dream since childhood. According to my parents I started to draw since I was three. There had been a dilemma for my career, business or art, and I picked business. After I graduated from Gallaudet University with a B.Sc. in Business Management, I went to Beijing and worked at an IT firm for two years until my return to Canada in 1997 when I was 25 years old; I had not lived in Canada for almost all my life. At first, I wanted to advance my career in pursuit of a Political Science degree at UBC in order to have a career with the Federal Government. Then two years later during my summer job as a web designer, I finally decided to pursue my dream to become an artist, and I eventually got accepted in Emily Carr Institute of Art and Design for Spring 2000 and graduated with a BFA in Fine Art in May 2005.
As in any milestone, I do face many new challenges at each direction. I had been indoctrinated with all kind of theories and ideas from my years in Emily Carr, and unable to tell my own style until found it in Summer 2008. I simply want to follow my heart to express joys and cheerfulness in this universe, especially after I have been through a lot of obstacles and difficulties. I like abstract expressionism with a fusion from colourists like Itten, Van Gogh, Murakami and Matisse, etc. Due to my cultural upbringing, I do have Oriental elements in my arts. Overall, I am grateful for all the support from my parents, my relatives, and my friends, and I shall always follow my dream.