Faculty of Art

Drawing and Painting

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.