Check out Vanessa Hsia

Today we’d like to introduce you to Vanessa Hsia.

Vanessa, we’d love to hear your story and how you got to where you are today both personally and as an artist.
I usually describe my childhood as a spiral of nomadic waves. I was born in Syracuse, New York, and lived in the Bay Area for a small portion of my childhood, but suddenly, my entire family moved back to Taiwan when I was six. I transferred to seven different schools and moved five times in my life. The culture shock was a massive impact on discovering both of my identities as a Taiwanese and an American. I went to local traditional schools where I struggled speaking Mandarin. At the time, I was a timid child and sometimes was even made fun of for being an “alien” who didn’t talk in the mother tongue. The only way to express the frustration was drawing cartoon characters. These drawings were, sadly my single friends (no joke). As I got older, I was expanding my interests in visual arts and found myself painting and sketching 24/7.

My mother has always been a workaholic. She regularly took care of my brother and me while my dad often came home late from long days at the office. My mother wanted to pursue art school but never had the chance due to a lack of support from my grandfather. However, one of the most grateful parts about my parents is that they never were the stereotypical tiger parents. After my mother realized my artistic talents, she started to encourage me to find my passion for the arts.

I decided to pursue filmmaking and was accepted to the California Institute of the Arts in 2013. After living in Taiwan for 11 years, another cultural shock wave hit me. I was surrounded by a diverse group of friends and faculty, and it was also a pinnacle period where I learned other people’s creative interests. Every summer, when I went back home, I volunteered for the Taiwan Root Medical Peace Corps. I would travel internationally to places such as Sri Lanka, Myanmar, and, most recently, Jordan, providing medical care to those in need. During these trips, I got the opportunity to work as a documentarian and behind the scenes photographer, where eventually, I picked up my passion for documentary filmmaking and travel photography.

We’d love to hear more about your artwork. What do you do and why and what do you hope others will take away from your work?
I’m currently pursuing a path as a travel photojournalist/landscape photographer. As an avid traveler, my passion for learning other people’s culture is what fuels my art. Every single movement, interaction, and communication is what drives me to document the substantial similarities we share across cultures continuously. I believe the best way to untwist misconceptions about a country or culture’s negative reputation is to visit the actual place and immerse yourself into the environment and culture fully. Be open-minded and converse yourself with locals!

Artists face many challenges, but what do you feel is the most pressing among them?
From personal experience, I sometimes think we as artists bring a lot of fear and doubt onto ourselves. There will be a lack of motivation at times, but being disciplined with your productivity is also the key to continuing to do better work. I’d say the more we are aware of our emotions and thoughts, the better we can access ourselves and reflect on our work.

The other thing I’d like to mention is you can’t create your art alone. As humans, we need to have some form of social connection with others to stem our art-making process. This is coming from a person who sucks at asking for help, by the way. No matter your creative interests, art involves the people that you love and work with. I cannot stress enough how being a part of a community, or even just a small crew of friends can help you grow 10 times as much as working on your own.

Do you have any events or exhibitions coming up? Where would one go to see more of your work? How can people support you and your artwork?
You can find and follow my current works on my Instagram account (@vanserglobes) or my website (http://www.vanser-van.com). I was on a creative hibernation traveling the past three months, but after digging up 5000+ photos, I hope to push myself to post more! Any recommendations or other inspirations you would like to share, I’d love to see them! Just ping me on Instagram. I’m also thinking about creating a Shutterstock account soon so people can support my work that way too.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.vanser-van.com
• Email: [email protected]
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/vanserglobes/

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