[Filtered Four, Inquiry Factory]
Before Christina Lau had experienced a car accident, she considered herself to be a very active, outgoing and energetic person. I chose this icon to represent this, it is something that still lies deep within her however she wasn’t able to fully express this through her body afterwards. I think it’s kind of like a symbol of the past, but she has been able to move forward, exploring her capability and learning to embracing them.
The car crash had created a huge impact on Christina Lau’s body that she was left paralysed, unable to go back to her life before. Soon she had faced a lot of challenges, she couldn’t walk anymore, people started to look at her differently, the things she could do in her day to day life felt restricted. She was unable to set foot into the judgemental world and was sinking in depression. However she has now learnt to embrace herself and realised it all depends on how you look at life. I chose this icon to represent all the struggles she had to face and how that all added up, ultimately overcoming them and living her best life.
After the accident, she was in shock and didn’t know what to do. The cloud and thunder represents the depressive feeling that floated around in her mind, she lost confidence in herself and spent a lot of time indoors, at home. The sun behind the cloud represents her positivity and resilience. Christina Lau showed a lot of love for her family and close ones, therefore the sun also represents how they were able to shed light on her during the difficult moments. I believe there is always a positive and negative aspect that lies within each individual, it depends on how faithful we are and the strength we show on our outside, because in the end, even you think something’s impossible, positivity will always win.
As she continued to move forward with a positive mindset, she joined a group of mouth painters where she began to encounter her capability of painting with her mouth. Although she shared with us that it wasn’t easy when she had first began, however she was able to discover that she had talent within and painting is now something she truly enjoys. I think art was able to rescue Lau drowning in the sea of depression, it’s incredible to see how it created a big change in her life today.
One of my biggest take away from this session is how powerful resilience actually is, even if you fall and you get back up, it can change an individuals life significantly. Of course life is never easy and there will always be people in the world who will judge for who you are as that is how humans have evolved, however I’ve learnt that it’s vital to have a positive mindset as that can really lift you out of the dark. It’s always easy to look at yourself and find all the things you can criticise, but by shifting your mindset and looking from a different angle, that can be very influential. I’ve also learnt that it’s important to try, connecting this to myself I always tend to underestimate myself so I will never know what I’m fully capable off unless I try and go up to the limit. When I was younger I had a fixed mindset that I would never be able to reach grade 8 in piano and that it would be good enough if I had reached around grade 6. However ‘good enough’ is never enough, I’ve understood that it’s important to keep going and trying until you’ve reached your maximum, which ultimately lead me to go over grade 8.
Questions:
- What does it mean to live a ‘normal life’?
- How has art (painting) created an influence on your life?
- How do you think your life would’ve been different if you hadn’t experienced a car accident?
- How were you able to stay resilient? (What factors made you want to stay positive?)
- If you could turn back time, is there anything you would like to change in your life?
