Blurring the line between Anglocentric and traditional East Asian cultures, my series captures the clash of dual identities and sacrifice. Paying homage to my mother, my works tell her complicated story through split-second moments. I explore her struggle to raise her children in Australia, moving away from her home and life in Shanghai. Seeing her constant struggle to fit in with a predominately white society, I took exaggerated aspects of Chinese culture, such as Chinese traditional opera makeup, to show a clash of identities within her. I also show phrases commonly used for women in China written on my mother's back in traditional calligraphy. They read, ‘humble and weak’, ‘humility and respect’, ‘put others before yourself’ and ‘if husband is not virtuous, he is not worthy of his wife's respect’. I chose these phrases as she left China partially because of the limitations women face there. The bareness of her back in the bathroom represents her vulnerability in the readiness to let go of the deeply ingrained messages she has internalised for so long.