Azure Echo (2022-2023)

This work of image-making is a journey where I trace my childhood in China before immigrating. After living in multiple countries, I revisit my identity and reconnect with my first home. The format of this world-making piece is referenced from the ancient Chinese painting “Along the River During the Qingming Festival,” with a non-linear narrative from left to right. Memories are fragile, whimsical, exaggerated, and not completely true—very similar to mythologies. By exploring the fragments of my childhood memory, I created an alternative world where Chinese mythological gods and beasts, cited from ancient Chinese literature such as the ‘Classic of Mountains and Seas’ and ‘HuaiNanZi,’ live in my hometown, Anshun, Guizhou. You can watch these gods at the street food stall, on cheaply made kiddie rides, and riding on a tricycle heading to the moon.