Culture Power

The painting above is called: Belonging.
I painted this painting in hopes to bring us closer to understanding our own culture and be proud of where we came from.

Culture power: I am terribly saddened by the New Zealand Mosque Shooting last week. It is appalling to me on how one person could cause so much grief, let alone change so many peoples' lives to the detriments of his limited ideologies. When it comes to multi-culturism our nation had come a long way but there is still so much that needed to be improved on. Most of all, our minds, acceptance, tolerance and universal love.

Since we can't force people to understand the acceptance of multi-culturism, we can certainly help them to understand it better by showing them  that none of us is really that different from one another. 

Asia Culture 
I grew up in Asia, east Malaysia to be exact. Beautiful country with a melting pot of three predominant race, the Chinese, the Indian and the Malay. I grew up knowing that we are all different and that each of us is unique in our own ways, not to say we weren't blind to the stereotypes that we saw in each other or the little prejudism that our elders have shown us.

This is How I have Changed Racism Around
I dealt with racism in my life, I remembered how that felt especially at age 12 in a foreign country without parents, I had to deal with the infliction myself. The only way I knew how was to show my classmates how similar I was to them. I brought my scrapbook to school and showed them the music bands I was into and the things that I enjoyed doing like "drawing" or "roller skating". Somehow I won them over because we had a common ground to stand on.

None of us is that different from one another
So remember if you felt ostracized because of your race or creed, do not be afraid to stand up for yourself or for someone else because when we do cut the apple to the core none of us is that different from one another. Embrace your culture and be proud of your heritage because there is so much to take pride in. 

Now, I would love to ask you a question: In what ways have you encountered Racism or Prejudism? And how did you deal with it? I would love to hear about it.

With Honor in mind and in spirit,
Ting Yuen xoxo