English as a Second Language

English as a Second Language is a juggle between two personalities: my introverted "Taiwanese-ness" and my expressive "American wanna-be" persona. Playing with scale and vibrant colors, I set stiff postures against my recurring dog figure to capture the awkwardness of daily life as an outsider, chuckling nervously through conversations, missing cultural references, never quite sure where to stand. Yet inside that discomfort is also liberation. In the chaotic diversity of NYC, I've found comfort in the in-between: not quite Taiwanese, not quite American, but free to be both.

“Ever feel like a whole different person depending on which language you're speaking? Language and culture are inseparable, they shape how we think, connect, and see the world. When I first moved to New York, my Chinese thoughts couldn't find their English voice. So many expressions and concepts simply don't translate. I was tongue-tied more often than not. Years passed, and English seeped into me. Now I think in two tongues: a bilingual mind that built an extrovert's facade around a timid core. Thirteen years in, I feel untethered: a perpetual expatriate, fluent in both worlds yet fully at home in neither.