For a while, I was very interested in the theme of family. My After Dinner series focuses on my family, specifically my relationship with my parents. Gradually, I wanted to explore families beyond my own. As a result, my aunt's family and my uncle's family became the subjects of my paintings.

Unlike my own family life, although I am very close to my relatives, there are still many things I don’t know about them. Therefore, unlike my attempts to faithfully depict my own family life, the representations of theirs incorporate more of my imagination. Some of these imaginations come from stories my mother told me, while others stem from fragmented memories that feel like dreams.

Hainan, oil on canvas, 24 x 24 cm, 2020

I've enjoyed painting ever since I was young, and my family has always appreciated my work, especially my aunt.

My aunt is a fashion designer with her own brand, and in my memory, she has always been unconventional and rebellious. I think she’s really cool, but unfortunately, we can only communicate through my mom. This might be a regret for me.

For her birthday, I always gift her my paintings, often of flowers and birds. However, in the past two years, I’ve chosen to depict her family life as a gift. The first time I did this, I painted from a photo, capturing sunlight, shadows from trees, and the figures' poses without much alteration. After that, I began experimenting with a more intentional approach to composition.

I place the relatives I know from real life into completely unfamiliar spaces that I construct myself. This unfamiliarity directly reflects the sense of estrangement that still exists between family members, despite our blood ties. My aunt, who is obsessed with beauty, my much younger cousins, and my uncle, who feels the most distant in that family, are all present. Even though he was dating my aunt when I was born and I saw him often, I still feel very distant from him. He’s also in the painting, but tucked away in the top right corner of the kitchen. After seeing the painting, he pretended to be upset, saying I was treating him differently. I just smiled and didn’t say anything.