Creating my own visual language
My experimental paintings ‘幸運星 Lucky Stars’ explore my mixed raced identity and Chinese heritage and what Chinese sounds like to me from a non-speaking perspective listening to my father’s favourite classic Cantonese song by Michael Kwan. The abstract sensory map celebrates my individuality and my family heritage by thinking through materials, colours, forms, and rhythm to make meaning of my inner world and experience as a mixed-race British Chinese woman. Creating my own visual language through mark making to make sense of a languages I have grown up detached to but feel a great closeness with. The colours signify flavours and the atmosphere I experience when I immerse myself, while the gesture inhabits movement from rhythm and the heat of spices in hot tea from China, India, and Finland. I exhibited the dazzling blue satin and colours at their brightest by hanging it from a blossom tree which was very calming to watch wave peacefully in the wind.
My satin wall hanging artwork has a dazzling material quality – discovered originally in china, the sky/sea blue reflects the immensity of the divine universe and my identity. I was motivated by the fact I had grown up very distant from heritage, so I took the initiative to educate myself in the matter. This was my chance to change my personal narrative of displacement and confusion into curiosity; celebrating the wonders of each culture. I had the idea to create a cross-cultural piece that would amalgamate the three parts of my mixed race identity (Chinese, Finnish, Indian) through the symbolism of nature, mythology, religion, and spirituality. This lead me discover Indian Gods such as the three headed God calledBrahma because my artwork surrounds the creation of life. I wanted to combine this ideology with three important women from each culture that I yearn familiarise with – my grandmothers and aunts. I reimagined them as empresses combined into my own goddess surrounded by a cross-cultural mythical scenery.
Rose-Marie Luk 