40 artists were challenged to transform a blank, lidded box into art for a group exhibition.

My work references the gloss finish of lacquerware – a method of protecting and decorating wooden objects traditional in Vietnam and East Asian countries. The image is inspired by my mother’s name, which means ‘lotus’ in Vietnamese. The print is inlaid at different levels into the paint layers, invoking the Buddhist symbolism of a lotus plant – growing upward through a common and submerged darkness, toward light, and delivery of a shared beauty.