Something Missing? undeniably lives for the rawness of those first impulsive elements that inspired Pei Li to create it in the way she did. It is not a work that can be finessed. That would only reduce the undertone of anger, the bittersweet frustration that dictates the gestures and the sly quips at narrative embedded within the work. It would probably diminish the seam of humour it exudes too. The force or subtext of the work is belied by the decadent lacework of inky black and watery grey lines that she paints across the walls of the space in which Something Missing? is projected. But all of these sensations only perhaps find full force on a second viewing. Initially, Something Missing? is a mesmerizing experience, and you can’t help but be drawn into the lyrical motion of the painting that spreads across the walls, and which is echoed in the piece in the body and motion of the girl in action, who is none but the artist herself. She has a determined but impish air. You know she’s playing, that she’s having fun, but from the expressions that cross her face, you also know that she is driven by an internal concealed determination and quiet control such that if released, if made visible the sight of her real anger, frustration or dismay would be formidable indeed.

Of her choice of title as well as theme she says “I feel I have lost so many things in my life. It’s always hard to accept that you have to make choices or sacrifices, but if you can’t put it aside then you repress it which is worse.” Something Missing?, therefore, is an interpretation of the pain that engulfs human existence.

(Karen Smith, The Feisty Freshman, 2009[Excerpt])