Swamped By

I am an Australian with Chinese heritage and I grew up in Boondall. I was troubled in my cultural identity during my formative years – I felt lost as there was a lack of positive representation of people who look like me.
‘Swamped By’ is full of Pop culture references: Hokusai’s ‘Great Wave’; 1990s racism; Asian tropes and stereotypes; and, analogies of confusion – banana (‘yellow’ on the outside, white inside) and its vice versa, egg.
Painting this box is an attempt to right the past; I can only imagine the comfort my younger self would have felt to have seen it, and hope the artwork can help others with a similar disposition.