As a member of the Chinese diaspora in the UK, I have been inspired by Crenshaw's statement to explore identity structures within Chinese society. The combination of still lifes, portraits and imagined scenes painted on stretched canvas investigate how Chinese society values conformity, suppresses self-expression and perpetuates internal oppression.

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The colour red’s prominence across the paintings gestures to conformity and nonconformity. Given the colour’s significance in China, where it has represented good fortune for millennia, Chinese-origin artists’ use of it dialogues with Chinese identity (like Yi Kai;[2] hence the exploration in the screen-printing series The Spectrum of Red, December 2023). Here, the red backgrounds acknowledge a broad Chinese culture, which values conformity, while the variety of shades advocates for the actual diversity of Chinese identities which cannot be reduced to a single interpretation.

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Inspired by these experimentations with red, Self Portrait in School Uniform (January 2024) is a larger-than-life oil and acrylic portrait, reminiscent of political portraits, giving a quasi-propaganda example of a neat "model student" in “school-girl” plaits, wearing a traditional cheongsam dress and an obedient, obliging expression. The transition from applying heavy-bodied acrylics to thin layers of oil paints minimises visible brushstrokes, mimicking a smooth stock propaganda-esque photorealistic portrait. Although “portraits can and have served as political tools”,[3] here the traditional approach is not for indoctrination but an expression of the phenomenon of conformity in Chinese society. It recalls the model student, conforming to both society and stereotype.

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Continuing to explore Chinese identities, and influenced by Chinese-American artist Martin Wong (1946-1999)’s investigation of identities and oppressions,[4] the paintings expand into three coherent series: Myriad Hues (March 2024), Lion Dance (April 2024) and Beyond Silk and Shadows (April 2024). Individually, each reflects discrete perspectives on what it is to be Chinese; collectively they explore Chinese identity’s dynamic, variegated nature.

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Myriad Hues (March 2024)’s life-sized portraits of generations of women in my family defies the patriarchal structure in Chinese communities, which places men at the centre of national identity. As portraits, they “engage with ideas of identity”.[5] All but one do it by blending traditional attire and symbolic motifs, such as red and yin-yang, to suggest a stereotypical “Chineseness”. Self-Portrait (1) (February 2024) stands out for not including cultural signifiers: this incongruity challenges how we define individuals’ multifaceted identities, asking whether we can comprehend the individual free of context. 

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To investigate the burden of conformity, Lion Dance (April 2024), an imaginative painting series, depicts figures in traditional lion masks, using the masks to conceal their battles with themselves in a struggle to feel their own vulnerability (The Lion Fight, May 2024). With reference to Wong’s Attorney Street (1982-84),[6] the painted frames add meaning. For instance, an illustration of hazard tape represents toxic social norms – the unspoken burden individuals endure due to hegemonic Chinese masculinity. 

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Beyond Silk and Shadows (April 2024), a series of still lifes and urban scenes, probes the diasporic experience of Chinese immigrants in the UK. Yu’s Dinner Table (May 2024) depicts a dinner table set with Chinese tableware but serving both Chinese and Western cuisine. This painting both celebrates the pivotal role of food-sharing in Chinese culture, and symbolises the struggles around cultural assimilation (see Frantz Fanon’s Black Skin, White Masks [7] and Kwok-bun Chan’s “One Face, Many Masks” [8]). Rather than a plain red background, this painting aligns with The Spectrum of Red (December 2023) to delve deeper into the varieties of red. Furthermore, it employs a variety of objects and tools to create brushstrokes and texture, adding to the impression of multifarious Chinese identities.

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The three interconnected series are exhibited across three adjacent running wall spaces. Together they luxuriate in the outward demonstrations of Chinese heritage through ornate details, yet imply the struggles of intersectional identity politics. They recognise that cultural identities are fluid and ever-changing, “not a fixed essence at all”.[9] Through using the same tools as celebrations of traditional Chinese identity, these paintings prompt us always to challenge and reassess assumptions and foster a more inclusive understanding of all identities.

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References:

[1] Columbia Law School, “Kimberlé Crenshaw on Intersectionality, More than Two Decades Later,” Columbia Law School, accessed April 28, 2024, https://www.law.columbia.edu/news/archive/kimberle-crenshaw-intersectionality-more-two-decades-later#:~:text=If%20someone%20is%20trying%20to.

 

[2] Yi Kai, “Yi Kai ” Yi Kai Studio, 2004, https://yikaistudio.com/.

 

[3] Shearer West, “The Functions of Portraiture,” essay, in Portraiture (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2004), 66.

 

[4] Martin Wong, “The Martin Wong Foundation,” The Martin Wong Foundation, 2024, https://www.martinwong.org/.

 

[5] Shearer West, “Introduction,” essay, in Portraiture (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2004), 11.

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[6] Martin Wong, “Gallery,” The Martin Wong Foundation, 2024, https://www.martinwong.org/gallery/e3y1dhbamywhek2dnqtdp632d1vivg.

 

[7] Frantz Fanon and Richard Philcox, Black Skin, White Masks (UK: Penguin Books, 2021).

 

[8] Kwok-bun Chan, “One Face, Many Masks,” essay, in Chinese Identities, Ethnicity and Cosmopolitanism (Oxon: Routledge, 2005), 93–115.

 

[9] Stuart Hall, “CULTURAL IDENTITY AND CINEMATIC REPRESENTATION.” Framework: The Journal of Cinema and Media, no. 36 (1989): 68–81. http://www.jstor.org/stable/44111666.

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