Donam: Heritage Drawing

My name is Cheryl Teoh, I am 21 years old and I like to let whatever is hiding away in my mind roam around and out on to the page. Art has always been a source of comfort and sanity. I love my parents, but they are not very supportive and art is the one thing that I have that is mine, where I can surprise myself, laugh and stay a while. I am currently a student at the University of Western Ontario and while studying international relations and criminology I am also an avid artist. I moved to Canada and became a permanent resident three years ago from Pakistan but I am originally from Malaysia. My father works for the UN and thus I have moved and lived all over the world in places like Switzerland and Kenya. Growing up in a strict Chinese family dynamic whilst also being socialized in the various and sometimes contrasting cultures, has inspired a lot of the ideas in art that I have explored. I am very interested in how we manage the different layers of our identity and how some of our characteristics are raw and often socialized into us very early on.