Original artwork description:

The Peace Lily Playground series represents one of my earliest moments as a young child. It paints a turning point where the world was no longer so small and confined to my life at home. My perception of the world, which was not very safe, was broadened by encountering a little boy who is represented as the goldfish in the painting. Peace lily, for me, represents home, which also equates to where I find peace and calmness. I also relate the sense of purification with the plants.

All of the memories are somewhat blurry and almost dreamlike. Hence, the paintings show real elements in the world composed in a way of a surrealistic perception, such as the fish that playfully swim around a peace lily plant.

overexposed
‘Overexposed’ is the second painting in the ‘Peace Lily Playground’ series and is about the moment I had experienced after meeting a young boy (the Goldfish) at a hospital’s playground. After visiting the playground a few too many times, there were some mixed sensations, such as a sense of dullness due to being overexposed to a new thing. This is represented by the greened Peace Lily flower, which is me. The white flowers from the Peace Lily turns green when overly exposed to the sun. I had a sense of denial and I didn’t want to let go of the initial feeling of amazement—as if a shiny curtain draped over my eyes.

I had brought my 5-year-old sister to the playground, in a wish that she’d take away the amazing experience I had initially felt. Subconsciously, I was trying to integrate my unhappy home-life with the good sensation I had with the children at the hospital. But, I quickly awoke from this intention when my little sister became very scared of the new environment. Suddenly, I felt the need and instinct to protect my sister (represented by the sprouting Peace Lily), which overrode everything I had initially felt. Although naturally protective of my sister, this reaction was also a reflection of the symptoms having developed PTSD, in which I would always position myself as less important than others.

This painting is about lot of mixed feelings but this is also about family. The three red strings here represent people who are bound together as family and in fate. Subsequently, there are three figures in this painting: myself, my little sister, and a ghost-like flower who represents another sister that was miscarried. This little ghost-like flower is situated in the lower middle of the canvas under a rib-like leaf where a womb would have been located if you saw the painting as a body.

Materials used:

Acrylic paint, Cotton thread

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