The project follows three conceptual stages: Body, Space, and Time. In the Body section, I apply phenomenology to explore how both the artist’s and sitter’s bodies are disciplined, perceived, and positioned in the world. I particularly examine skin color from a decolonial perspective, reflecting on my own position as an Asian woman in the global art discourse. Through my artistic practice, I attempt to bridge the gap between the romantic ideal of existence without reason and the reality of modern life, where individuals are constantly subjected to valuation. If we can learn about the world through another person—regardless of how unsettling their reality may be—this fosters a fundamental harmonious connection with existence.

The Space section explores the relationship between the sitter and their environment, extending to physical, screen, and cyberspace. By situating my practice in the private spaces of my sitters’ rooms, I analyze how Heidegger’s “fourfold” and Taoist Feng Shui theories reveal our intuitive engagement with space. Contemporary anxiety about abstraction and digital fragmentation is addressed in my work, where black wires connect different spaces, reflecting the tension between an interconnected yet isolated reality. As Husserl (1970) suggested, the world is an endless flow of meaning, yet no single perspective can fully grasp its totality. My paintings attempt to depict the inseparability of space and being, embracing both individuality and the broader abstract whole.

The final section, Time, highlights the uniqueness of the moment when I enter a sitter’s private room. Each portrait, painted on-site and never altered afterward, freezes a transient yet definitive moment in time. Drawing from Heidegger, Bernard Stiegler, and Yuk Hui, I explore how time, technology, and art challenge Eurocentric models of existence. The sitter is not just a subject but a nexus of relationships, existing within a complex network of time and context. While my paintings may appear to depict individuals, they ultimately illustrate how people relate to the world and how we exist within contemporary temporality.

As Heidegger (1985) noted, true existence is revealed when we allow things to appear as they are, free from imposed meanings. Art, in this sense, is not just a subjective illusion but an organic logic that encompasses the entirety of being. Through phenomenology and artistic practice, this research examines the act of painting as an existential inquiry—one that positions human existence within specific temporal and spatial conditions. People are thrown into the world without reason and are destined to die, yet it is through their interactions with space and time that they define their existence. My paintings seek to capture this fleeting yet fundamental reality, where the moment of creation itself becomes a revelation of being.