1 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iP9n89q2ifQ

2 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z575JAcHeX0

3 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dOtlIBlJdds

4 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T9ZK0NnfNTk

5 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gpbLROTMT_U

"Jiawei Shen was born in 1948 in Shanghai, China. After showing promising talent in his early 20s he decided to cultivate his skills and build a solid career as an artist.

However, Shen's dream of becoming an artist was cut short as the Cultural Revolution engulfed China. Under Mao's rule all art schools were closed down and the working class were shipped out of the cities and ordered to work on the land, leaving Shen to teach himself the craft which would become his livelihood years later.

With the death of Mao in the late 70s and a new pragmatic leadership in place, the art school doors were reopened allowing Shen to study for two years at Central Academy of Fine Arts in Beijing. Although Shen's art was well received in his homeland and even earned the young artist nationally recognised awards, he decided to make the trip abroad to Australia to seek out a new life for himself, his wife and unborn child.

Leaving his pregnant wife behind and with little money, Shen arrive in Sydney in 1989. For his first two years in Australia, Shen drew portrait sketches for tourists in Darling Harbour to survive and took the opportunity to research portraiture and fine tune his craft .In 1992, Shen was finally reunited with his wife and 3 year old daughter.

Apart from the normal demands of being a husband and father, the major challenge now facing Jiawei is the migrant experience. Jiawei is trying to create a place for himself as an artist in the Australian context. But this poses a dilemma. What does Shen Jiawei now paint in his adopted homeland? Displaced from China and its history he must now find new historical themes that reflect his current experience. It's through his art that he tries to convey a sense of the ongoing dialogue between his Chinese self and the Australian that he's becoming."