epilogue. – Xiaotong Shen

Instagram: @xtshen.lu
Email: xtshen777@gmail.com

Xiaotong Shen is a digital-art and mixed-media artist who is finishing her fourth year majoring in Fine Arts and minoring in Digital Art Communication in University of Waterloo.

Moving from China to Canada in high school, Xiaotong received two different approaches to art from East to West. She often incorporates the mindset of both cultures into her work and uses it as a way to “connect” with her audience. “Showing her inner world to the world” is the theme of most of Xiaotong’s works. She hopes that her works can empathize with the audience and share her most cherished emotions with strangers.

Artist Statement

At first, I wanted to make this piece as a summary of my university life, so I started to compile my photos and read through my social media during my six years of university. In this process, I found myself more relaxed talking to the air on a public platform than pouring out my negative emotions to people close to me. I felt that the thesis exhibition was another form of analyzing myself in front of the public, so I decided to transfer these emotions of mine into poems and drawings to all audiences. The words and sentences used for the poems were all exactly the same ones selected from my posts on social media and I rearranged them into new poems. Since my first language is Chinese, I also provided a translated version of poems in English for the convenience of understanding. After finishing the poems, I wanted to give each poem a drawing. I make the drawings as simple, clear, and impactful as possible so that they would fit well with the poems.

As mentioned above, I am not very good at talking about my inner feelings with people close to me. However, I have a strong desire to talk. In this case, I see art as a way for me to show my inner self to others, a form of communication with the outside world. Most of these 25 poems that summarize the mood of my six years of university life contain negative emotions. Through these poems, I want to empathize with strangers and at the same time tell people with the same emotions that they are not alone.

Interview Questions

What aspects of your life inspire your art?

Most of my artworks come from my own inner feelings. When I was in high school, I moved from China to Canada. I was already quite introverted and in the process of adapting to a whole new environment. I became particularly sensitive to the smallest changes in the people and events around me. This sensitivity is reflected in my works, and I want to show my inner world to the audience.

What are your preferred mediums and why are you drawn to them?

Most of the time I paint digitally. My most common drawing tool is my iPad, and I like to study the use of different brushes and the various effects that come with the drawing software. A small tablet can be just like traditional paper and brushes, and even create more colorful works than traditional paper and brushes. I really like the extensive painting options that technology has brought to us.

Where do you see yourself in the future? How do you see your art practice evolving?

After graduation, I would like to start with an art-related job, such as marketing assistant or graphic designer. The pandemic tells me that the world will become more and more dependent on the internet in the future. I want to use my art background to learn more about trends in these positions, and eventually create my own personal stationery brand after I have some work experience, designing stationery that meets the personal interests and aesthetics of clients.

What do you want people to know about you as an artist?

I am a “self-willed” artist who only wants to create the art that I want to make deep down in my heart. I think art is a way to express my emotions, and I want to show the audience the real me through my works. I want to convey through my works some feelings that I can't say normally, and I hope to empathize with strangers through these works. Although some of my works seem negative, I also hope that people who view them can see my reflections and hopes for life in these negative emotions.

What is the most significant thing you will take away from your Fine Arts studies?

One of the most significant things I learned during my four years of Fine Arts studies is to do whatever art you want to do. I learned that it is not the form that is important in art, but the artist’s idea that is conveyed behind the scenes. Art is a way for the artist to communicate with the audience, a way to present themselves to the world.