PORFOLIO MINGHUI MAI
1.THE HUSTLE AND BUSTLE OF SHADOW
Taste of Thought
Materials: Digital Painting, created using Procreate and Photoshop.
Form: Digital Artwork, 2024
Throughout my childhood, my parents were extremely busy. My mother, caught between work and household responsibilities, often left my care to my father. Yet, he rarely took on that role. Instead, he unapologetically told my mother he couldn't raise me. For him, marriage seemed to provide a sense of home, but it was a home devoid of warmth. Though he was frequently at home, he neither worked nor contributed to household chores. My mother, meanwhile, shouldered both work and household responsibilities. Their frequent arguments filled me with anxiety and fear.
To me, my father was someone absorbed entirely in his own world, often engrossed in novels—particularly romance novels. His mind seemed detached from responsibility, parental love, or care for his own parents or wife. His world appeared to be filled with a constant, unreal romantic fantasy. I remember distinctly him saying to my mother, ‘Why don’t you give me love?’ This statement repulsed me, as I felt it reflected his selfish and unrealistic view of relationships. Despite my mother’s many years of dedication, he remained ungrateful, failing to offer support or even emotional presence. Instead, he seemed content to have a wife who provided for him and a daughter who dutifully respected him, without any reciprocal responsibility.
This artwork, titled The Taste of Thoughts, encapsulates my impression of my father. He appears striking and appealing on the surface, like a ripe strawberry, but to me, he is hollow in his role as a father. Though alive, he feels emotionally absent, like a figure who has already faded away.