Statement

Growing up as the youngest child of a conservative Hong Kong family, my voice was not welcomed. The ability to speak faded away. At 12, I moved back to Canada, where a series of traumatic issues were created by the constant flux amidst two cultures - Chinese and Western. At 20, I began to resist my traditional role. Every day, I process my progress. I gather stories of domestic encounters and private narratives. Simultaneously, I find relationships between these stories and the materials I use in my practice, such as resin, rice paper and ball point pen. I ask: Is clay actually the old grump? Does making humorous sculpture help me to strip down guilt? Can using ball point pen bring back innocence? In Chinese culture, it is forbidden to speak of family shame. My ultimate goal is to face head-on the heavy hearted matter. When the heart allows, I convert these stories through the work of cartoonistic gesture into bearable, yet straightforward imagery to reveal the raw emotional experiences we share. Over time, I hope the sweet anticipation for mooncake parties will become fruitful.

Bio

Sami Tsang was born in Canada and raised in Hong Kong. She studied traditional Chinese painting for 7 years, until she returned to Canada to pursue her passion for art. She began her study of ceramics in the specialized art program at H. B. Beal Secondary School in London, Ontario. In 2015, she enrolled in the ceramics program at Sheridan College, where she was introduced to the broader clay community, and guided attentively by her professors and peers. Tsang earned a Master of Fine Art in - Ceramic Art at Alfred University (NY) in 2021. She has relocated to Toronto and established a studio here.

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