Cortney Pang’s experience growing up in the unique cultural bubble of Hawaii as Japanese, Chinese, and Native Hawaiian has shaped the basis for many of the questions, ideas, and understandings she has today. Traditions, stories, superstitions, and beliefs passed down to her by distant members of her family inform much of her practice and serve as the primary inspiration for many of the symbols she uses in her work. 
Translating ideas lost to the broad multiplicity of language and definitions into tangible interpretations is at the core of her work: drawings are like sentences, paintings are like poetry, and sculptures are entire essays filled with commentary, retorts, observations, and criticisms. She starts off with the idea of a word, thinking about the complexity of language and tension within translation, and follows it up with a question: what does that word mean to the world? Then she asks more: what does it mean to me? Following this methodology, Pang creates mixed media sculptures, paintings, and drawings that aim to create an understanding, rather than a finite definition, of notions often overlooked in day-to-day life.