In Mahayana Buddhism, Buddha means the “enlightened” or “awakened” one who is no longer part of the world of suffering. Bodhisattva is a Buddha who went through all the suffering and enlightenment but still chooses to come back to the world to help others to become Buddhas. According to the Lotus Sutra, Bodhisattvas are "as many as the sands in the Ganges”. Of all the Bodhisattvas, one of the most popular is Avalokitesvara Bodhisattva.

Iconographically female, Avalokitesvara Bodhisattva is known in Chinese as Guanyin (觀音菩薩). Guanyin in Chinese denotes “seeing the sounds”. Guanyin sees the sounds of the sentient beings instead of listening to them. I am intrigued by the concept of seeing the sounds instead of listening to them since it also ties back to my personal experience of losing my hearing for a month when I was young and constantly losing my hearing after flights due to ear barotrauma.

I continue the tradition of depicting Guanyin as females in my works since I agree that many women in my life have a strong ability to see and understand the sound of sentient beings. The female figure depicted is my best friend in college who studies data science and economics. Critiquing consumerist culture, I paint commodities on the ghost imprint red, which symbolizes passion in Chan Buddhism whereas blue represents detachment.