I am an artist living in New York city, grew up in Taiwan.
“I guess you are on the path that is meant to be yours, no matter how long the detour it was.” My mom said this to me couple years after I switched my career to be an artist. She continued. “I am a bit worried, but I am happy that you are happy.”
I drew and loved crafts when I was a kid. Later, it seemed to be so normal to leave them just be habits. I went on to study chemical engineering in university. Changing my major to costume design was an attempt to break away from the mainstream. However, I fell back in again once I graduated from the university. I had stable jobs and tried to settle.
Years went by, I was not far from turning 30. I panicked. “It is either now, or never.” I told myself. Then, I quit my job, prepared for pursuing an art study in US.
Many things happened between then and now, both good and bad. There were times that I was going to give up and almost fell back again. Lucky enough, there was always something happened to remind me why I chose what I am doing now. Sometimes it was like a slap in the face, bitterly woke me up from doubting. Sometimes it was a gentle encouraging push that reignited hopes and motivated me.
It’s empowering to live a life I choose for myself. Surely, there is still hesitation and struggle. I am learning to cope with the reality and to grow my career as an artist. Uncertainty can be scaring. Yet, stepping on the path of doing what I love is a very solid and real feeling!
About the image:
Before I left for US, I asked my parents to take a family photo with me. I told them I wished them to wear their wedding or engagement clothes, but I would be naked in the picture. There was a moment of silence. Then my mom said. “I will need to see if I can find the clothes.”
They never really explicitly said to me that they agree with my decision to be an artist. But now I realize, they express their support loud and clear by their actions.
Title of the work:
“Generation”
It conveys the culture and history of my family. The shrine for the tablet with name of ancestors and statues of gods was behind my parents. My parents in their engagement clothes posed as for a formal photograph, while I curled up as a baby in my mother’s womb in lower front of all of them.
hi ! welcome to steemit be happy .
Stunning picture and a creative introduction - this fits right on @welcoming, my blog for resteeming promising newbies! Resteemd you there and left you an upvote! Greets :)
@lulumeng - such a powerful image, especially for someone like myself who comes from a first generation migrant family as well. As you say, your parents' actions speak volumes for their support and the 'struggle' that you must face as an artist is what makes it such a rewarding pursuit. I look forward to more posts from you :)
You're very welcome here at Steemit. Love this sort of art... Followed & upvoted. Have a great day and happy blogging!
Definitely not your average "introduceyourself" post. Welcome to Steemit. May you prosper here! (Your friend @eonwarped is in a group on Discord I belong to. He told us about you there and showed some of your art.)
Hi @lulumeng... Nice to meet you... Welcome to Steemit..🌹.. This is a nice intro post... Upvoted you... I hope you will do great over with your arts here as a steemian..😊.. Follow Me @onority
Thank you!
Welcome to steemit. I hope you wll enjoy your stay here. If you need help with anything at this platform please do not hesitate to ask me or anyone in the community. Everyone here is eager to help one another. Have a wonderful day!
This post has received gratitude of 1.00 % from @jout
welcome
WEcome here my dear artist soul! Great first article!!!! More people like you we need! Steem on and hold that quality
An image with striking contrast. It does feel very powerful.
And cheers to chasing your dreams. It's nice things have worked out thus far. Wishing you also a successful steemit blog!
Welcome to Steemit. I look forward to future posts from you.
I didn't know about Mattress Performance but thanks for bringing it to my attention. Very thought-provoking!
I wasn't aware of her performance. But after searching her, I immediately thought about two pioneer performance artists in endurance art. Tehchibg Hsieh and Marina Abramović. They both create many thought-provoking and poetic performance pieces.