Mar 08 2018

Highlights From “Women in Art: Hong Kong”

by Sophie von Wunster

“Women in Art: Hong Kong” gives an overview of women working in Hong Kong’s art scene, including the roles that their works play in the market and in exhibitions. It is neither a feminist show nor a cry for help, but a strong statement on the depth and quality behind the works and research of these outstanding artists from the port city.

On March 5, the New Hall Art Collection at the University of Cambridge and Hong Kong’s Asia Art Archive launched the exhibition “Women in Art: Hong Kong” in collaboration with Sotheby’s. The show presented the results of a one-year research project by New Hall Art Collection’s curator Eliza Gluckman and Asia Art Archive’s former head of research Phoebe Wong, focused on the status and representation of women artists in Hong Kong from the 1960s to the present day.

To illustrate what female artists in the city face, Gluckman provided ArtAsiaPacific with a few numbers. Among the most dismal is perhaps that as of November 2017, only 16 percent of M+ museum’s collection of 20th and 21st century art, architecture and design is by women, less than three percent of whom are from Hong Kong. International representation of the city’s female artists has been similarly sparse. From 2001 to 2017, 25 artists were shown at Hong Kong’s pavilion at the Venice Biennale—eight of these practitioners were female. Furthermore, since 2009, when the city’s participation in the biennial shifted to comprise solo showcases, no woman has been featured.

Aside from presenting statistical research, “Women in Art: Hong Kong” showcased the artworks of female artists creating in the city. Here are some highlights from the exhibition.

The exhibition focused on four main themes, such as ink, identity, duality and cinema. The latter was comprised of video installations by artists Ellen Pau, Angela Su and Ho Sin Tung. Shown here is a still from Tack Tack Tack (2017) by ANGELA SU. The artist roughly and rapidly stabs at the space between her fingers with a pair of scissors, testing her own sensory-motor coordination.

Signature works by SU, such as Rorschach Test No. 3 (2016), which exemplify the artist’s experimentation with materials, were also on view. These particular prints were created by overlapping layers of drafting film. While the forms evoke Rorschach tests used in psychological studies, they actually comprise human and floral anatomical parts.

AU HOI LAM’s Oblivion (Between Z and A, HK) (2016) represents the artist’s own conflicted response to Hong Kong’s political climate in 2014. In the context of the exhibition, the work highlighted the diversity of opinions in the city.

An impressive combination of materials make up MAN FUNG-YI’s Insight (2017), a zen-inspired, meditative installation, the complex drawings of which are created by burning silk with incense.

Detail of MAN FUNG-YI’s Insight (2017).

HO SIN TUNG’s Numb Numbers (2016) is a series of three intricate drawings based on a classic modernist Hong Kong novel, Rose Rosary, written in 1997 by Zhong Ling-ling. Ho’s print narrates the life of a woman through symbols, which are captioned in an index.

The differences in the relationship between a mother and child and a father and child is the main focus of WONG WAI YIN’s With him, you are a father, and I, an animal (2017). The pair of horses in the back represents a mother and her baby, highlighting the fact that mothers tend to be first and foremost concerned with basic, animalistic things like hygiene and food, whereas fathers feel more free to act as companions to their children, as illustrated by the duo in front.

Flashy neon signs are symbolic of Hong Kong’s excess and fast pace. Hinting at the art market itself, KO SIN TUNG’s Closed 24hrs (2016) gives a twist to these common objects. The installation is paired with NICOLE WONG’s Wish You Were Here (2016), which comprises postcards with the cheeky slogan “wish you were here,” referring to the constant presence of social media networks that may actually be the cause of the lack of communication between us.

The same thesis is also expressed in Hope it Reaches You Well (2016) by WONG, which comprises a series of letters written in Braille. The work is encased behind glass, once again highlighting our worsening inability to connect with each other.

CHOI YAN CHI is the co-founder of 1a Space, one of Hong Kong’s oldest independent, non-profit art organizations, as well as a multidisciplinary artist. Her performance Object-activities was filmed at Sheung Wan Town Hall in July 1989 and is a planned cross-disciplinary work comprising poetry, painting and dance. This was the first performance in Hong Kong to commemorate those who died in the Tiananmen incident in June of the same year, embodying an overwhelming mix of emotions that can still be experienced in today’s exhibition.

Cofounder of Videotage and self-taught artist ELLEN PAU’s Recycling Cinema (1999) was displayed at the 49th Venice Biennale in 2001. The work challenges our vision with relentless movements.

Still from ELLEN PAU’s Recycling Cinema (1999).

Sophie von Wunster is an editorial intern at ArtAsiaPacific.

“Women in Art: Hong Kong” is on view at Sotheby’s Hong Kong, until March 11, 2018.

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