My practice begins from my lived experience of migration and the ongoing question of where and how belonging is felt and formed. Rather than illustrating identity directly, I trace how feelings of belonging, memory and attachment appear in everyday spaces. Influenced by Anselm Kiefer’s engagement with cultural memory, I began by painting institutional spaces from direct observation, using them to unfold into reflections on identity and affiliation. Drawing on Barbara Howey and Morwenna Griffiths’ critical autobiography and painting practice, painting becomes a way to think through my positioning. 

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               Over time, the subject of my paintings shifted. Instead of repeatedly returning to my own image, I turned to my cat, AuAu, who migrated with me from Hong Kong and has been my daily companion. Following John Berger’s reflections on animals as mirrors of the self and Donna Haraway’s concept of the companion species, I approach my cat as both co-subject and metaphor. His presence opens a relational way of thinking about belonging, grounded in intimacy and interdependence within shared space.

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                I work primarily in oil paint for its material sensitivity and capacity to hold emotional nuance. The slowness of oil has the ability to be layered, reworked and revisited over time, mirrors the gradual development of self-transformation and self-understanding. Colour, temperature and the weight of the tone become central to my emotional expression. As my emotional relationship to place has shifted, my palette has moved from muted tones toward warmer and luminous colour, reflecting a growing sense of comfort.

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