When
living
in
one
culture
you
always
dream
of
another
more
ideal
than
your
own.
However,
after
you
have
experienced
this
other
culture,
your
dreams
of
it
are
broken
by
this
strange
new
found
reality.
Losing
the
comforts
of
your
inherent
culture,
you
wander
back
and
forth
between
two
cultures,
not
knowing
which
you
belong
to,
unable
to
establish
roots
in
either.
You
are
left
alone,
isolated
by
your
own
inability
to
adapt
to
either
one.
Nostalgia
defeats
people,
it
destroys
achievement
and
makes
people
lose
sight
of
a
better
future.
To
call
back
to
the
past
is
easy,
but
to
strive
to
the
future
is
painful.
Pain
is
a
rite
of
passage
that
everyone
must
go
through
in
order
to
accomplish
anything.
I
came
here
for
freedom,
but
in
the
process
I
lost
it.
Finally,
I
understand
the
real
meaning
of
freedom.
It
is
not
something
given,
it
is
paid
for
through
pain
and
suffering.
When
provided
with
freedom,
you
are
unable
to
understand
how
to
use
it.
freedom
can
only
be
understood
through
personal
experience.
For
the
person
who
wants
to
change
him
or
herself,
life
Is
tough.
He
or
she
has
no
choice
and
must
face
it
directly.
Through
pain
and
suffering
you
become
a
better
and
stronger
person.
Cultural
and
language
differences
have
created
many
problems
for
me,
placing
me
at
the
bottom
of
society.
I
must
struggle
to
become
something
better
through
understanding
two
cultures
instead
of
just
one.
Cultures
evolve
as
they
come
to
understand
other
cultures.
People
are
able
to
better
understand
their
own
culture
when
they
experience
another
culture.
In
order
to
truly
understand
one’s
culture,
one
must
first
recognize
one’s
culture,
thereby
recognizing
others.
Every
culture
is
very
close-minded.
In
order
for
one
culture
to
be
accepted
by
another,
it
must
prove
it
is
benign,
even
beneficial.
Every
society
should
have
its
own
contemporary
culture,
in
this
way,
cultures
are
able
to
relate
to
each
other
in
modern
terms.
If
one
society
lacks
a
contemporary
culture,
it
is
unable
to
evolve.
My
ethnicity
doesn’t
matter
to
me.
Being
Chinese
or
Canadian
is
irrelevant
to
me.
I
only
know
that
I
am
an
individual
living
in
this
world.
As
an
artist
I
don’t
believe
in
nationality.
I
strive
to
be
an
international
person
in
an
international
and
multicultural
world.
As
an
artist,
you
must
break
trough
all
national
barriers.
Artists
who
are
unable
to
accept
different
ideas
often
restrict
themselves
within
their
own
culture.
Multiculturalism
comes
through
individual
practice.
Here,
many
different
peoples
go
through
culture
shock.
They
develop
new
ideas
and
make
different
choices
based
on
their
own
experiences
in
this
land.
This
determines
the
true
multicultural
character
of
Canada.
Life
provides
me
with
experience,
art
is
a
way
for
me
to
find
my
inner
self.
I
use
my
experience
to
create
something
based
on
what
I
understand
about
my
inner
self.
All
cultures
are
complex.
The
culture
into
which
you
are
born
is
the
one
you
come
to
understand
most
profoundly.
It
is
that
which
finds
its
way
into
the
art
of
the
artist
and
it
is
expressed
instinctively.
If
that
artist
should
move
to
another
culture,
he
or
she
must
move
just
as
instinctively
to
begin
to
understand
the
strange
new
world
in
which
he
or
she
finds
him
or
herself.
It
is
this
dynamic,
this
sudden
generation
of
artistic
electricity,
that
fuels change
in
both
art
and
life.
It
is
the
conflict
of
cultures
which
has
entered
my
work
since
coming
to
Canada,
and
it
is
in
a
state
of
constant
evolution.
In
the
process
of
evolution
my
ideas
are
born.
None
of
this,
however,
can
be
expressed
artistically
unless
the
artist
has
developed
technique.
This
must
come
from
study
and
practice,
and
from
long
experience.
It
creates
a
new
individual
culture.
It
is
not
an
evolution
of
the
original
culture,
nor
is
it
a
copy
from
another
culture,
it
is
a
new
complex.
– Gu Xiong, 1995