Makeshift Home

Abstract

This thesis addresses issues around migration, Chinese diaspora and the feelings that go along with making a home in a new environment. My family's migration history from mainland China to Macau in the 1970s, then a Portuguese colony, and my own search for belonging has led me to a further examination about human mobility and cross-cultural influences.

A specific Chinese term ?? (Cantonese: Hang Fuk, Mandarin: Xing Fu), the happiness that comes from being together and being loved, is brought in to question the notion of home, the families we build and the domestic spaces in which we live.

In my paintings and recent sound installations "Mountain Surrounded by Sea" and "Makeshift Home," personal history intertwines with a long history of difficult living conditions for immigrants and provokes people to think about social issues through a confrontation with constrained living spaces.