Grandma’s Secret Golden Flower
2024
Watercolour and Chinese ink, mulberry paper, hand cut
200 x 190 x 90cm

Grandma’s Secret Golden Flower touches upon healing, beliefs, transcendence, and the afterlife. I received religion and spiritual education from childhood because they were imbued in Chinese myth and folklore. The golden flower represents light. Light symbolises spirituality.

When my great-grandmother died, Grandma told me that she vanished from our sight to become immortal. She lives on air and water. She has no troubled mind. She can fly and is untouchable. I was fascinated by the immortals’ abilities.

When my grandma died, I prayed for her to become immortal. I sought to learn from where the primal spirit transcends. Death is merely a natural part of the end and flow of transformation.

In this work, I created a ritual ceremony for Grandma’s spirit to live. Lines from all directions are radiant from the centre. On one side, Grandmother lies peacefully in a vast rice field. Her heart departs from the body to become spiritual. The waterwheel flows backward to nourish. On the reverse, enlightenment eyes look inwards and outwards. Light of body-opening lit up the deep valley through Eucalyptus trees. A newborn baby arrives.

Darkness binds in-between. Every cut sheds light.

68th Blake Prize
11 May – 7 July 2024
Casula Powerhouse Arts Centre