spotlightIt was in 2010 that he and his
brothers visited Shaoxing for
the first time, and met the
locals who had memories of
their grandparents from 50
years ago, before they left for
Taiwan during the Chinese
Civ il Wa r.
“The feeling was profound
and surreal, and somewhat
contradictory,” he recalls. “I
felt such a strong connection
to those people, who were
like a part of the past that
was lost. But at the same
time, our differences – in
clothing, physical appearance,
mannerisms – made it obvious
that there existed a huge
chasm between us. Something
found, but at the same time, the
realisation of something lost. It
was a pivotal experience for me,
one that inspired me to become
an artist. Through my work, I
am attempting to understand
the fragile connections to
people and culture, and
examine whether those
connections, once broken, can
be restored.”
thrill of nostalgia
The child of Chinese
immigrants who went to
the US for graduate school,
Warren was born and
raised in the suburbs of
Wisconsin. His uncles and
aunts were accomplished
businesspeople and
scientists, and his parents
were hardworking, strict
disciplinarians, who expected
him to excel academically
and to support the family
engineering business.
He studied engineering
and eventually became a
structural engineer working
on large-scale commercial
buildings like stadiums,
hospitals, offices and carparks.
Subsequently, he worked as a
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