“As a Hong Konger, my identity has been shaped by Chinese familial traditions and morals,” says Fion Hung Ching-Yan (b. 1993), a visual artist who works between staged photography and collage. “These standards are influenced by Confucianism, which emphasises collectivism over individualism. In 2016, I experienced the trauma of my grandma’s passing. I began to question my role and the issues of gender in family relationships. 24 Paragons of Filial Piety 二十四孝, a set of the Chinese Yuan dynasty folk tales concerning acts of loyalty performed by the children for their parents, provided the visual metaphors for my project The Skeletons in the Closet.” This is an off-kilter visual diary where money is swept into dustpans and food becomes a plaything. Elsewhere, doppelgängers appear at the artist’s bedside, faces obscured by hair. Everything in these scenes is carefully curated and fine-tuned, yet nothing is quite as it seems. “A key aspect of my art practice has been to explore my self-identity through a gendered perspective. I I perform different bodily gestures and “inappropriate” acts to push against the institution of the ideal Chinese family. Using the aesthetics of surrealism, the project aims to create a subversive fantasy that would never be possible in real life.” Through The Skeletons in the Closet, Fion Hung Ching-Yan crafts a world for herself which is visually pleasing, surprising, humorous and deeply critical – all at once. | hungchingyan.com
All images courtesy Hung Ching-Yan, from The Skeletons in the Closet (2021-2022).