Chinese descendant society has become an entity that cannot be separated in Indonesia’s social structure. However, the process of cultural assimilation and acculturation is still a flawed procedure. In the middle of identity and culture complexity, the artist was torn between profound dualism acquired from her family and the impact of a culture shock when she was settled in Indonesian natives’ scope. As a result, an existential crisis arose within the artist’s mind and caused a classification of three phases - previous settings, actual settings, and the upcoming settings. The problem range that is being considered tries to represent the three phases of identity forming through paintings. These paintings were created and equipped with an understanding of Chinese cultural background and history in Indonesia along with the creativity that the artist pursues.
The series of “If I Were” overall represents the artist herself as a subject who is playing a specific role – the artist’s external form, but followed by the subject doing an unsynchronized action according to the role that is being lived by. Roleplaying is chosen as a symbol of cultural paradox that forms the artist’s identity and background as she is today.
