Sami Tsang

Growing up as the youngest child of a conservative Hong Kong family, my voice was not welcomed. The ability to speak soon faded away. I moved back to Canada at age 12, where the constant flux amidst Chinese and Western cultures created a series of traumatic issues. At 20, I began to resist my traditional role. 

Every day, I process my progress. 

I gather stories of domestic encounters and private narratives. I find relationships between these stories and the materials I use in my practice, such as clay, resin, rice paper and ball point pen. Is clay actually the old grump? Does making humorous sculpture help me to strip down guilt? Can using ball point pen bring back innocence? Chinese culture forbids speaking of family shame. My ultimate goal is to face head-on this heavy-hearted matter. When my heart allows, I convert these stories through the work of cartoonist-like gesture into bearable, yet straightforward imagery to reveal the raw emotional experiences we share. Over time, I hope the sweet anticipation for mooncake parties will become fruitful.