Artist Statement
Burden behind a blissful memory
This series of artworks narrates a story of Liang’s memory of immigration to Canada. In this memory, Liang’s parents planned a vacation to Canada to visit Liang’s older brother; however, the actual plan was to migrate to Canada due to the harsh environment in their homeland, Venezuela.
The illustrations highlight a five part story of the family packing everything, yet Liang, the naive and innocent younger self, is unaware of his surroundings to notice the wariness and stress his parents were experiencing. It begins with both parents packing their baggage and boxing all their belongings assuring their son it is to be cautious of what was essential to bring with them to the trip. During their travel to the airport, Liang starts to notice the vacation plan was a plan to migrate to Canada. Despite… His homesickness, Liang decides to keep quiet about his sadness of never seeing his friends again or bringing along the important gifts he ever received from his loved ones. He was content to know his parents’ actions were under good motives to live in a safer country than in Venezuela, as the situation became much worse during 2016, due to the increase of violence and shortage of supplies within the country.
The drawing series are depicted as postcards for the metaphor of delivering a message or object to another destination, similar to Liang’s parents migrating to Canada to ensure their child’s future is in a safe place.