Life isn't always easy or fair, and without hope, it's difficult to navigate. Our parents may have shielded us from some harsh realities, but lies will eventually surface, no matter how hard we try to suppress them.

In this series of artworks that I have developed throughout my time spent in Kuala Lumpur and Cyberjaya during my university and creative entrepreneurial years, I utilized the moon as a symbol and my theme in the artworks to express hope, for myself, as a positive symbol in the dark.

I remember when I first moved to Cyberjaya alone, I was staying on the top floor of an old apartment; the first night alone in the room was lonely, I missed home, and I can still remember vividly even though there are no lights in the room; it is not completely pitch black, but there is a soft moonlight shining in from outside. - and perhaps that event affected my subconscious at the time, leading to the expansion of this collection of moon-themed artworks.

The moon, as seen from Earth, has various shapes due to planetary movement... and, like hope, it is not flawless, fluctuates, and is constantly changing. A crescent moon is also on the Malaysia flag, symbolizing religion and faith here. Even though I am not a Muslim, I enjoy using it in my art creations, especially in this series, because it is about things we can't see or touch in reality - the subconscious, faith, something that keeps our actions in reality in check, or something that moves us forward in reality no matter how harsh the surroundings are.

For this series of artworks, I used a darker tone on purpose, because without darkness, the shining light could never be noticed. I also love to tweak the tone of the night sky to a much bluer tone, it gives off a soothing calm and mysterious vibe, like the depth of the ocean.. in the artworks, you can see that some moon is in perfect shape, some is broken, and some is melting, these are all connected to the feelings that I have been experiencing in reality countless times.

From searching for hope to get a creative scholarship to go after what I love, to searching for hope in winning contests, taking action, and building my future in the city... and losing hope after failing to do so and returning home, all of these experiences further shaped my subconscious self and made me a better and more mature person, as a photographer and digital artist.

As I journeyed through Malaysia, driven by passion, I have always been searching for a positive feedback on - my effort and hardwork that I have sown here, as an ordinary Chinese with no backing or connections, relying on myself since the beginning of my creative journey, there are many lonely nights spent introspecting my decision to go after what I love and taking many risks to do so - the moon is always a pointer and guidance in the night sky that gives me some subconscious comfort.

Below is a series of artworks I put together with some captions to convey what I was going through before the pandemic. It was made in the year 2019, and I look forward to seeing what I can make in the next decade following up on this series.

The before and after series of the artworks I created demonstrate my creative process and how I bring reality and imagination together. I combined the processes of sketching, drawing, photography, and editing, bringing all of my prior knowledge together to create the final piece of artwork, which may appear AI generated, but to me personally, it consists of a variety of information and memories because the process of making each one is not so simple. The paradox is that the majority of the night photos were taken during the day, but I digitally converted them to night. This is similar to how darkness can occasionally be seen in the open during the day but not at night.