Dictation is an act of learning in school that we are all familiar with ever since we are a child. It requires a person to carefully reproduce the original from memory with the intention of improving our basic skill of reading and writing. It prove one can spell and remember, but it does not mean one necessarily understands the meaning of the words or the use them.

Culture is rooted in a history of habits, values and ways of thinking. We live our everyday lives based on this culture. We follow the norm and our culture to create our identity. Our life style, the way we think and idea of value are dictated to us by culture. To understand our identity, we often rely on studying our ancestry and mistake that for our own history without understanding how it relates to us as an individual. In times, we use our cultural references for granted and stereotype others.

Could we exist without our cultural ancestry? How do we find a balance between our individuality and our shared identity?

Hong Kong born and raised Chinese Artists Joe Joe Ngai shares his view on the subject through the series of pencil drawings based on traditional ink painting.