8.27 x 11.69 inches, Pencil, Colored Pencil, Digital Media, 2021

Growing up in East Asian society has made Liu acutely attuned to the nuanced and often marginalized realities of women. Within cultural and aesthetic frameworks that have long shaped and constrained the female image, she constructs symbolic narratives that reclaim subjectivity through metaphor and allegory. Motifs such as the cocoon and butterfly recur in her imagery—powerful emblems of entrapment and metamorphosis—evoking the struggles, awakenings, and inner evolutions of women negotiating societal expectations. Her work amplifies marginalized voices, offering a quietly assertive visual discourse on female agency and resilience.