When the mud settles: Hayley Chiu | Feature Gallery Exhibition

Inspired by the long and diverse history of her culture that she was never fully a part of, Hayley appropriates its imagery and combines them with symbolism from her own life to narrate an existence that transcends time and place. She documents the changes that take place within her surroundings and body and the relationship between the two, embracing the self and the changing forms that it will continue to adapt. Combining realism with overtly overlaid images, she breaks any illusion that her paintings are direct representations of reality, but one that explores the mythologies we create to add charm in a mundane life.

Hayley Chi Hay Chiu’s self portraits explore identity and her relationship with the self through fragmentation and layering to create dream-like stories. Using painted collages as a tool to narrate her experiences as a Chinese woman born and raised in Canada, she draws from her memories and Chinese folklore, situating herself in surroundings that she influences and is influenced by, to build a mythology distinct to herself. In her newest body of work, her paintings evoke feelings of slowness and quietness, and embrace her fear of uncertainty.  Accepting what she doesn’t understand, practicing patience for things outside of her control, and longing for the impossible while finding love in the in the attempt.

She asks the viewer: “Do you have the patience to wait till your mud settles and the water is clear?”