Hayley Chiu

The moon shines her light onto the earth

月光光，照地堂。The moon represents my mother, my heritage, and the feminine that illuminates the daughter, the earth, me. I am connected with the world because of how she watches over and protects me. Using imagery of the feminine, I depict her as powerful and capable, nourishing and nourished. My mother would sing a Chinese lullaby for me to fall asleep to when I was a baby, and the lyrics were “The moon shines her light onto the earth”. I hadn’t heard these words again until I encountered them in a Faye Wong song, and these tender moments rushed back to me. I came full circle; my mom sang me a song from her culture that she passed onto me, and I held onto it to shape into my own, exploring and creating my own identity and my place in my heritage.