ILLUSTRATION

BETTER KNOW THE DEVIL THAN THE DEVIL YOU DON’T (2025)

Memory file with drawings, poems, and ephemera.

"Memory File," is a binder filled with drawings and ephemera that explore my characters' personalities, experiences, and memories. I designed it to be rearrangeable, mimicking how memories and thoughts exist in a nonlinear, fragmented way inside our minds. The ephemera includes nostalgic elements, sentimental keepsakes, and personal artifacts that contrast with the darker, more serious drawings. This mix of lighthearted and heavy elements reflects my view of emotional experiences, how fleeting joys and deeper struggles coexist, with no clear distinction between the good and bad. The Memory File’s rearrangeable nature aims to mirror how memories resurface unpredictably, out of order, and disconnected, but still deeply tied to emotional experiences. This further connects to border theories of emotional processing– that emotions can be shaped by cognitive interpretation rather than simply following a strict stimulus-response pattern. My project embraces that messiness with the layering of past and present, the tension between logic and feeling, because real emotional experiences don’t happen in a clean methodological manner.

SKIN (2025)

A series of drawings that explores the inexpressible feelings that resist language but live in the body.

2 HAPPY TOGETHER (2024)

Drawings of scenes from the movie Happy Together (1999).

Happy Together directed by Hong Kong director Wong Kar Wai, is a film narrating the love story of two characters, Lai Yiu Fai (Tony Leung) and Ho Po Wing (Leslie Cheung). This film spends a lot of time depicting the emotional conflicts of the characters, hinting that toxic relationships can take a toll on one’s mental health. In this series of 5 digital paintings, I chose 5 still shots from the film and illustrated them in my style, using thick lines and textured paint strokes. The dark blonde character represents Po Wing, while the dark-haired character represents Yiu Fai. They were not drawn in a more simple and cartoon way just for the juxtaposition of something traumatic represented in a cuter style; these symbolic characters are like simplified signs that are easier for people to recognize/comprehend. The shots I selected hone into the character Yiu Fai to emphasize the effect of a destructive relationship, as he is the one taking care of Po Wing but also the one who is scared of being abandoned once again. The drawings shift in perspective alternatively, with one character showing their face in each scene. The drawings also mimic the contrast present in the film, of how the characters are under beautiful lighting that feels comforting, while the characters may be experiencing the complete opposite internally.

HEARTBEAT (2023)

Pain and heartbreak represented through symbolistic 2D animation.

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