Peisen Ding (he/they) is a visual artist and an art educator residing on the traditional, ancestral, and unceded territories of the xʷməθkʷəy̓əm (Musqueam), Sḵwx̱wú7mesh (Squamish), and səlilwətaɬ (Tsleil-Waututh) Nations.
Peisen’s art practice often involves the exploration of urban relationships, for example, relations with other individuals and built environments in the city of Vancouver through photography, painting, and/or whatever medium comes to the process organically. As a queer Chinese immigrant, it is also important for Peisen to discover what life brings when living with different identities and cultures, and how art can show care, love, and courage to others who have similar backgrounds. Peisen’s research in education mainly focuses on what art can bring to the learning of ourselves and the world around us.
Mixed Media I Conceptual I Multidisciplinary
2024
Into the Fogs
Acrylic + Chinese Ink
48x30 inches
Into the Fogs is a journey through shifting horizons, where mountains dissolve into mist, yet might be seen as clouds or rocks. Expressive and enigmatic, the painting invites you to step into its mysterious, unfolding landscape. A fusion of delicate Chinese landscape techniques and bold Western acrylic strokes, it creates a space where nature and imagination blur.
2023
Chasing Clouds
Acrylic
4x7 feet (a series of two pieces)
Chasing Clouds guides you into the open sky, exploring the sensation of being lost amidst the city's bustling streets and the yearning for comfort found in chasing clouds. Through painting, mapping, and collaging local newspapers, the artwork reflects my experience during the early days of the COVID-19 pandemic when cloud-chasing became a new hobby and a refuge. The ever-shifting clouds mirrored my sense of both being an insider and outsider in the city, as they embodied fluidity and transformation while remaining true to themselves.
Mind-Scape
Porcelain Clay
Size varies depending on the placement
Mind-Scape presents a small black-and-white landscape, crafted meticulously to capture a world within. The main medium is porcelain clay, a personal favorite of mine. My fascination with porcelain is mostly affected by my family. They have had porcelain dinnerware for as long as I can remember. It recalls many family moments from my childhood. Within Mind-Scape, you can encounter a window into the landscape of the mind, a sanctuary of inner tranquility. The term "Scape" in "Mind-scape" can also hint at escaping from the tangible world, creating a sanctuary within our thoughts. This imagined terrain features serene mountains reminiscent of those found in traditional Chinese paintings. In these paintings, mountains symbolize a state of mind rather than a true depiction of reality. Likewise, in this piece, they stand as emblems of inner peace, their forms not confined by accuracy but guided by emotion. Besides them are ethereal clouds, weaving an atmosphere of serenity. Every element, rendered in pristine white, contrasts strikingly against the black fabric beneath, elevating the surreal landscape. The absence of color isn't a limitation but rather an exploration – a testament to the notion that enchantment can be born from the simplest palette.
Settled, Up There
Digital Photographs
As someone who travels frequently, I often find myself pondering where to settle. This series of photographs uses clouds as a backdrop to provide an ironic answer to that question: nowhere to settle. However, the photographs also overlay with my daily life moments, offering a glimpse of hope that perhaps, there will be a place to call home.
Lost-Scape
Watercolour + Pencil
8x8 inches
Based on the artist’s lived experience in Vancouver, this work unfolds different layers of “being lost” — the stolen land of the xʷməθkʷəy̓əm (Musqueam), Sḵwx̱wú7mesh (Squamish), and səlilwətaɬ (Tsleil-Waututh) Nations, the disorientation of oneself as an outsider, and the lost sense of home to almost everyone.
A LOST scape,
fleeting,
A self floating on its surface,
where to stand?
Living in between,
Where to belong?
Respect, Inclusion, Care,
don’t come along.
2022
Comfort Zone
Clay + Yarn + Acrylic
10x10 inches
The period of 5 years is short enough to categorize immigrants to Canada as newcomers. However, it is also long enough for newcomers to struggle with their everyday lives from different perspectives. The artist builds a metaphoric comfort zone, trying to positively remind himself of the existence of a safe space, as well as to deliver a warm feeling to other newcomers, or individuals who somehow need comfort.
Run
Charcoal
11.7x16.5 inches
Accepted by the International Society for Education through Art for the 2023 International Juried Digital Art Exhibition
This series of artworks consists of a short piece of creative writing and two charchoal drawings (297 mm x 420 mm). It was created shortly after my participation in a workshop with Melanie Goodchild which involved deep discussions about capitalism, colonization, and problematic systems. Melanie Goodchild is an Anishinaabe (Ojibway) complexity and systems thinking researcher and consultant. She is moose clan from Biigtigong Nishnaabeg and Ketegaunseebee First Nations. Through the workshop, Melanie Goodchild offered multiple ways of contemplating current social and institutional systems that incorporate Indigenous knowledge. Notably, this series of artworks was organically informed by the conversations that happened in the workshop. It is a reflective work on my thoughts and feelings about the lived experience with current issues of social and institutional systems. The simplicity of charcoal lines represents and emphasizes individual agency, which may seem insignificant and ineffective. However, as long as we are trying, our efforts can still be seen by the public. Consequently, this work encourages the audience to think about whether and how they have run around, towards, or even pulled away unwillingly from social and institutional issues in their own situations, in a way to evoke potential actions for social change.
Running, running and running
on the line,
around the problems,
toward the possible change,
it seems we can never pull away.
Are you also running somewhere?
2021
Dwelling in the Dark Water
Acrylic
4x6 inches
This series of works tries to evoke anti-racism voices. Dark water in Chinese denotes dark muddy water and connotes complicated and troublesome situations. Covid-19 has made our lives hard and isolated. What came after is aggravating racism towards Chinese immigrants, or “East Asian looking” people. As an artist and Chinese immigrant dwelling in this kind of dark water, it is urgent to speak up.
2020
Sunbath
Gouache
11x14 inches
An action to feel free during COVID-19.
What have you been up to?
Gouache
11x14 inches
Displayed at the Online Gallery for Sustaining Life on Earth: Arts-Based Responses to the Lived Experience of COVID-19
This painting was created during the challenging period of COVID-19, capturing a profound moment in time. It portrayed my partner with a mask shielding his face, goggles guarding his eyes, and standing behind closed doors, encapsulating the complex emotions and uncertainties of this era. Having my partner by my side throughout this difficult time was a stroke of luck. But what have you been up to? This question leads to a series of other questions for the audience: How do we exist without physical closeness? How do we exist in the absence of others? Are you out there? Are you okay? These questions extend beyond mere inquiries; they are a heartfelt message. They convey a profound sense of care and concern. It's a call to stay connected in spirit, even when physical closeness may be elusive, and a testament to our shared resilience during these challenging times.
Recall a Day, Recall an Experience
Acrylic
24x36 inches
Displayed at the 2020 National Art Education Association Member Exhibition
This painting was created during the early stage of the COVID-19 pandemic, a time marked by uncertainty and upheaval. Its primary intention was to evoke a sense of solace and nostalgia, harkening back to the simple joys of a day at the beach. In the midst of the chaos and isolation that gripped the world, the artwork sought to offer a brief respite, a visual escape to a place of tranquility and relaxation. It embodied the hope and optimism that, despite the hardships we were enduring, there would come a time when we could once again enjoy the unbridled freedom of such experiences.
