LIMINAL

Liminal is an online literary platform that support local artists and writers in Australia focusing on the Asian Australia experience. They publish art, writing and interviews, and run programs for first nation writers and writers' of colour. One work I enjoyed was from the October 2021 publication titled ‘Mirror’ which contains artworks that ‘split and shape lines of sight between individuals and worlds, epochs and generation.’ The work ‘Looking in the Goblin Mirror’ by Serenity Department was a collaboration between mother ‘Maria Ling Qing Huang’ and daughter ‘Amy Suo Wo.’ The writing in form of letter follows Amy’s return to visit her mother where she is also greeted by Ursala whom the letter is addressed to. Her mother and her discuss the Goblin Mirror which her mother has drawn and describes to reflect persons internal self in their image. Amy pleads mental illness and trauma does not make one evil. She says she's defending herself and Ursala, from this I gather Ursala is a past self. Her mother adds to the drawing an angel, a child who represents her. She sees her mum does not see her as the devil's spawn and in this act of returning she has confronted a darkness. This piece reflected on intergenerational trauma taking away blame and set a path to healing. It is undeniably sad and when looking at the drawing you can see the violence Amy talks about and the light the child brings in. The piece talks about a topic I also experience and is something I want to incorporate in my art. Seeing the way they have so beautifully used metaphors really inspires me.