This is a self-portrait inspired by a picture Teng’s mother drew for her one night when she was a child. These faces emerge from their backgrounds like figures coming into focus through fog, asserting their presence. The girl seem to know something that we are only just starting to realize: into this space, a child has moved a mountain. 

Jocelyn Teng

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“I was born in Taipei, Taiwan. I grew up in the mountains of Southern Taipei, in a house my hippie, artistic parents hand built. It was a special time for me, climbing up the winding trails, adventuring through the ravine… The fog from the mountains, the smell of the jungle, and sounds of the insects are imbedded deep within me. It has been more than 20 years now since I have been back there. It felt like a surreal dream. Was it real? My creations have always been connected to that time, my magical childhood moment in the mountains. Nostalgia. I will continue to try to recreate all the senses I felt when I’m there… I want to continue this dream, to progress and find my fulfillment: to live in a simple and beautiful state. “ Jocelyn (b. 1987) is an abstract, figurative artist based in Toronto Canada. Her journey as an artist has been a winding path, marked by a decade spent immersed in the dynamic worlds of fashion and illustration after earning her university degree in fashion design. This foundation in form, line, and the expressive potential of the human figure now informs her explorations as a self-taught painter. Working intuitively with acrylics, oil pastels, crayons on canvas, panels, and paper, she embraces the immediacy and tactile nature of these mediums. Her artistic sensibility has been deeply shaped by a lifelong exposure to the creative process, nurtured by her father, who is a full-time artist. The origin of her work draws from the vivid and dreamlike surrounds of her early childhood in the mountains of southern Taipei. These memories of lush forests, mountains and river infused with a sense of wonder and mystery, resurface in the abstract and figurative forms. Through the confident perspective of a woman rooted in her power, Jocelyn navigates these recalled landscapes and the figures that inhabit them. Her large-scale paintings explore the inherent state of impermanence that underlies all of existence. Like movement of the wind, water flowing or fog dissipating, the journey of self-discovery is a constant state of flux. She strives to capture this ephemeral quality, allowing forms to emerge and dissolve, mirroring the fluid and ever-changing nature of memory and identity. Her work becomes a visual meditation on the transient beauty of life and the enduring strength found within its continuous transformation. Jocelyn’s work is held in private collections across Canada, the United States, Australia, United Kingdom and Taiwan.