glimpse of my past

Growing up in the United States, I was exposed to Ren and Stimpy, Hey Arnold!, Doug, Rugrats, Blues Clues, Barney, and Dexter Laboratory. Let's face it, this lineup isn't exactly the most mentally stimulating and to make it all worse, I watched them religiously as a child. After all, they were cartoons, which generally meant a plot dedicated to cheap laughs; as a child, I was in heaven. But then somewhere along the timeline of my life, I grew tired of the same jokes and cheesy one-liners. I ultimately gave up on television altogether, but there was always another option that lurked in the back of my mind. After all, I was asian and went to Chinese school so when I was younger, all the kids around me would watch Japanese animation and read Japanese comics (in Chinese). One problem: I wasn't the sharpest tool in the shed and my Chinese, quite frankly, sucked. Exposure to a language I couldn't read frustrated me and in response, I avoided it like the plague. Quite counter-intuitive for the long run... since it would've made sense to use it as a motivator to learn the language.

However, every so often, my brother would bring home these VHS cassettes that had english subtitles. As I grew older, I went through a phase where I was mildly interested in anime and manga, but the language barrier prevented me from ever getting more deeply invested. My exposure was limited to the series my brother would follow (with cult-like passion), because of the accompanying subtitles. Awesome if you were the same person and liked the same exact things.

Now, my Chinese still sucks. But my "born-again Taiwanese" status and rapidly increasing interest in my heritage hasn't left anime unnoticed. I've had small nibbles in the form of One Piece, Naruto, Death Note, Bleach and a rediscovering of Evangelion Neon Genesis, Gundam, and Rorouni Kenshin. I'm not saying i'm watching them right now, but my appreciation for the artform has increased a thousandfold. And as I dig into my past, I'm finding bits and pieces of my first lackluster attempt, in the form of drawings, toys, and unopened manga. By dusting off this past and re-evaluating its significance, I feel an even stronger bond and pull towards my culture. It is almost as if I've always known who I was, but didn't have the right tools to express myself.

The first picture is a google image of Rei Ayanami, from Neon Genesis Evangelion that I sketched during work today (because I felt like doodling and it was on my mind). The second drawing is of a robot from Neon Genesis that I drew 6 years ago and never finished (a good representation of my frustration and half-hearted attempt). The rest are photos of toys lying around my room that I've collected over the years. The gundams were shot using a 105 mm macro lens with extender for 1:1 ratio with two speedlights.