Artist Statement

Throughout my childhood, I always found joy in creating things. At first, my creativity was expressed through art. It started from simply watching cartoon shows like Pokemon as a 6-year old child. I remember I would have my dad draw the characters for me and I remember how focused I was on how he drew them. Eventually, I started to practice on my own and tried to develop my own art style by taking ideas from various cartoons and anime. As I started drawing my own characters, I also started to create my own stories for them. They ranged from characters being superheroes, to cyborgs in a robotic, apocalyptic world, to samurais fighting dragons, and etc. Even in my 6-year old mind, I went through the steps of character concepts, plot, setting, and storybuilding. Although I didn’t put much thought into deeper mechanics such as metaphors and symbolism since I was just a child, I remember the excitement the creation process brought to me every time I came up with a new story. 

When my parents started to argue everyday, I started to feel very alone. Being an only child made it worse because I couldn’t seek the comfort of a younger or older sibling. Luckily, I had my grandparents, who took care of me while my parents worked as well as my cousins who were practically my little sisters. My cousins and I would go on our own adventures, sharing many memorable times with each other. The memories I cherish the most was us shooting our own skits and wearing costumes for them. They were mostly comedic because we did them just for fun, but we would actually put in a lot of effort. It was a team effort, but I did most of the directing, costume choice, and story development. We still look back at our old videos, such as ones like bad cop and good cop versus robbers, dances we choreographed ourselves, music videos, and much more. We would reminisce about silly things that happened while making them like if we kept saying a line wrong or we kept trying to not laugh in one scene. 

When my parents divorced, it changed me but in a way that made me stronger and more independent. I understood why they couldn’t be together and still tried my best to see them both. I didn’t let it hold me back from my studies, from my goals, and from my creativity. Instead it makes me want to work harder and opens my mind to new ideas. 

Although I have always wanted to put fantasy elements in the films I want to make, I most importantly want them to tell stories based on struggle, personal and physical, stories based on my own personal experiences and growth, and stories that create an emotional, personal connection with viewers. Movies that I look to for inspiration and connection to these themes are movies like La La Land and Blade Runner 2049. Both movies were able to combine both fantastical elements and meaningful themes to create a story that was able to be in touch with the audience. This is something I wish to succeed in doing with my films in the future.