Sami Tsang

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 a 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. M y 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. Overtime, I hope the sweet anticipation for mooncake parties will become fruitful. 

Bio
I am a Canadian-born Chinese and was raised in Hong Kong. The most impactful experience I had there was studying traditional Chinese painting for 7 years. At age 12, I returned to Canada to pursue my passion for art. 
From a young age, expressing myself through art has always felt essential. I decided to move from Hong Kong to Canada for the specialized art program at H. B. Beal Secondary School. Beal introduced me to a wider range of visual arts, including painting and ceramics. In 2015, I continued to study Ceramic Art at Sheridan College. At Sheridan, I was introduced to the clay community, and I was given lots of guidance from my professors and peers for the next steps in my career. Currently, I am in my final year of the Master of Fine Art - Ceramic Art at Alfred University in New York State.