“Clothing functioned as my support system. I used clothing to express a sense of pride in my non-conforming self. I changed styles as regularly as I changed clothes and found a voice for my body without realizing that I had one.”

“I’ve only recently been able to see and feel ‘community’ in the ones that I’m in. And I’m still exploring where else I feel comfortable to share myself and hold space for others in. I’m learning how to stand tall in a grounded community.”

“We are in an era that requires immense creativity and societal shifts to save this planet and make it liveable for generations beyond our own.”

“Art doesn’t have to be this isolating, individualist mental exercise. Art making is one way I can connect to other people.”

“The responsibility is two-fold. First to one’s mother tongue, not to forget how much it is a part of you, how it colours the way you hear and see and taste and smell things.”

“Whenever I feel anxious or embarrassed about the vulnerable nature of my work, I ultimately remind myself that the initial impulse to create is rooted in my personal healing process.”

“There’s always that dilemma as a person of colour on where you draw the line because you don’t want to only be defined by your heritage and ethnicity. But then again, is there real harm if that’s where your interests lie?”

“Installation allows me to combine a number of mediums to bring in a more complicated reading of my work. I’m always interested in complicating things and not giving clean answers, but rather asking questions.”

“I like to imagine that the Internet is an ever-growing, amorphous blob of knowledge and content. Hidden behind the scenes are bots, trackers, and web crawlers, but these aren’t things we usually think about when we’re online.”

“Each musical project is like a different playground. Practically speaking, it takes a lot of Doodle polls and group chats to make it work. But honestly it’s a treat because I’m figuring out who I am as an artist, and it’s nice to have different spaces to play in.”

“I’ve been asking myself what I can do as a curator and arts organizer to not only lessen the precarity of my own practice, but other artists in Toronto as well. How can we build a foundation that supports and sustains our community of artists and creatives?”

“I love a good shakeup to remind me that creativity by its own definition traverses and breaks boundaries. How can attention to the material, technical and bodied practice of craft in other mediums, expand my vocabulary and shape my sensibilities?”

“Learning how to take care of and honour myself is an ever-happening journey but lately, it has been about naming my successes, celebrating my peers, seeking brief instances of solitude and silence, reading, and learning how to name when I am being restful vs. when I am being lazy.”

“Research can only further help me expand on my ideas and broaden the scope of the conversations I’m having, so why not? That response is something that has me thinking differently about what I’m currently doing in my creative practices.”

“Real world changes have happened because of photographs. Photography is a powerful storytelling tool because it is immediate, real, and versatile. It can communicate and reflect, it can tell the truth, and it can lie.”

“I’ve recently been thinking a lot about the word “정 情” (jung). I’ve been thinking about how we build relationships and think about relationships. How we live in a society that prioritizes oneself rather than each other.”