In the days when there were shortages of resources, when adults were busy attending classes taught by the Party and times were full of struggles… The only thing I knew was missing was that there was not so much food available, but otherwise, the mud fights in the rapeseed field in Spring; swimming in the pond to catch fish; using the peach tree resin to catch the cicadas; catching the dragonflies in the Summer; picking the unripe fruits and then watching different types of ants fighting in the autumn were all happy times. In the Winter a group of us would watch our neighbours making newly stuffed sausages to be hung up for drying, with a long pole in our hands, staring those sausages for hours was one of the highlights of my childhood.

Special highlights in those early years were visits from travelling performance troupes who spread the word through their stories of heroes; winning against all odds and of good triumphing over oppression and tyranny. At the time much of this was lost to me, as I was so young, but the images of these dynamic and passionate performers remains, their heroic posses, gestures and the bright coloured backdrops. These images as I grew older were reinforced further through the films of the time and how hope shone in the eyes and faces of those stars.

The golden faced stoic characters that I portray are my personal inner interpretation of how these images of the past have manifested inside of me now; of how the powerful visual messages have left an indelible mark in my mind and heart.