.. from my blog entry (26 Feb 2009):

Coming back to Melbourne, I guess with most people I knew graduated and are no longer around, I realized I had many moments by myself. Unlike my time at Penn where I still had school work to keep myself occupied, or in New York where there are just an infinite amount of things to do, I found myself… bored and free.

I remember being introduced to Kara Walker during my time at Penn, and having seen her work at various museums, I was inspired to do something with black silhouettes. I was looking into something fast to draw, simple, and that would bring my point across. Here’s what I did.

I guess being alone, thinking about my childhood, how much I liked the swing, and seeing the birds and park from outside my window gave me quite a few ideas. I guess I left the swing empty because I was feeling bored and lonely? The leaves growing (disproportionately) from the branch above also symbolized what I felt at that point in time.. that there was an imbalance in my life I couldn’t quite pin-point where it was. I guess in all these, God is still around: the grass still grows, the birds still sing. So painting this was rather therapeutic