The Tranny Diaries group settled unanimously on the topic of Chinese Buddhism and went on from there. We were interested in Guanyin and how she was transformed from a masculine entity to a feminine one, similar to transgenders. For me personally, I agreed with the idea of exploring the issue about transgenders because I have never responded actively to a topic so controversial, let alone make an artwork about it. Thus, discussing it with my group members, who had more knowledge about it, were really quite enriching. I also feel that from now on I can take stronger stands in things that matter.

As for difficulties, I found that we had problems consolidating our thoughts into a coherent and focused artist statement. We had ideas that were rather all over the place, and there are secondary ideas that were great but diverted our attention from the main focus. Thus, we had to meet repeatedly to ensure we do not stray too much from our topic. We also had to make sure that our final conveys our intention well such that audience would not be confused. In the end, with much research and discussion amongst members, we managed to come up with a coherent artist statement.

In retrospect, I thought that our change of plan in medium for the final work (lenticulated paper instead of transparent layered prints) was much better than our initial plan. I also thought that our response to the issue was focused and yet conveys the delicate matter well. However, should there be another chance for another visual response, I would plan a clearer division roles in the project such that everyone may put their set of skills to use and so that everyone have clearer idea on the roles.

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