You are welcome: Resonance(s) Visual Arts Graduate Exhibition 2026

ECU City Campus, Level 7

Spectrum, White Box and Painting & Drawing

Open: Friday 13 November and Monday 16 November, 10-4pm

Izabel Choy

The Tenth Dawn 第十个昕 2026

The Tenth Dawn (第十个昕) is an autobiographical triptych that employs my Chinese Zodiac sign of the Rooster, as a symbolic self-portrait. 

Drawing from the folklore of the Jade Emperor's Great Race, I transform the river crossed by the zodiac animals into a metaphor for migration, memory, change and the diasporic obstacles of growing up.

My material process mirrors memory itself. Charcoal, acrylic and oil paint accumulate in layers, allowing earlier marks to remain visible beneath newer ones. Some memories are rendered clearly while others dissolve, blur or disappear, suggesting that memory is unstable, selective and continually reconstructed.

Warm reds, pinks and burgundy evoke Hong Kong through cultural memory, heat, domestic life and the sense of 烟火气 (yān huǒ qì) —the warmth and vitality of people gathering, eating and living together. Blues reference Perth's ocean, open sky and a different sense of space and independence. Rather than separating these worlds, I allow the colours to overlap, reflecting an identity formed between cultures.

Drawings from friends and family were translated into a personal visual language. My mother's drawing of Bamboo becomes a symbol of maternal protection and continuous growth; food prepared by my grandmother represents care; animals become temporary self-portraits of qualities such as endurance and labour. These sources are transformed rather than copied, reflecting how other people are absorbed into an individual identity over time.

Across the triptych, the Rooster gradually grows in scale and confidence. If external labels disappeared, how could a person introduce themselves again? Perhaps the answer lies in relationships, cultural inheritance, lived experience, and the responsibility to carry these influences forward toward a future shaped by contribution and care.