Ruby Li

Bachelor of Fine Arts (Drawing & Printmaking)

My paintings of Chinese guardian lions illustrate my relationship with my culture. As a child I wasn’t taught about the intricacies of being part of a racial minority and rejected my identity to fit into western society. As I reclaim my language, traditions, and Chinese name, I recognise that my experience of race is inseparable from my westernised way of thinking and self-presentation. I express this dilemma through my paintings- the obnoxious colours and exaggerated expressions depict distinctly oriental subject matter yet bear no stylistic resemblance to traditional Chinese art. Some of the statues I paint reside in Melbourne’s CBD, therefore possess a certain degree of inauthenticity. Their cultural displacement and the way I choose to illustrate them are analogous to my own ambiguous cultural identity.