While Hung Liu once remarked, “Art and literature should be part of the revolutionary machine to unite and educate people and to fight and destroy the enemy.” (Gross, 2012). Similarly, Kimberle Crenshaw emphasised the role of art in making intersectional harms visible and improve advocacy in communities (Crenshaw, 2017). Both Liu and Crenshaw highlighted the political potential of art. This perspective makes me realise that to effectively utilise this tool, taking authorship is essential. 

 

Seeking authorship

Liu’s voice was deeply rooted in her Chinese diasporic background, personal experiences and the socio-political history of China. Her portrayal of marginalised individuals, particularly women, sought to recover and recontextualise history and her perspective at the present. Inspired by Liu and drawing on my background as a Chinese individual once subjected to British colonialism and now living in the UK, I aim to delve into my narrative and explore the representation of diasporic Chinese women in my work. Through this approach, I hope to challenge reductive portrayals and seek authentic ways to express identity. 

 

Historical context and exploring representation of Chinese diaspora

Liu explores themes of oppression, cultural memory and resilience, often prompting viewers to consider the intersections of power, gender and cultural context. History plays a pivotal role in her art as she frequently drew from archival photographs, especially those depicting women’s lives. In Opium (2014) (see figure 1.), Liu depicted a Chinese woman holding an opium pipe, reclining on a lounge chair, with elements of Chinese iconography layered into the background. The opium pipe is suggesting colonialism in the Opium Wars (The National Archives, 2023), which led to British occupation of Hong Kong and the commodification of Chinese women during that period. 

 

This historical context resonates with me and has a significant influence on my identity. Liu saw history as an evolving process, “History to me is not a noun. It is a verb. History is constantly changing… You can rewrite history.” (Gross, 2012). Her philosophy further inspires my approach, encouraging me to examine it by looking into the history of the Chinese diaspora. In my research, I found that there are not as many records specifically documenting the experiences of Chinese diasporic women in the UK. Instead, many historians are tend to generalise and analyse the diasporas as a collective one, they often overlook the nuances. 

 

According to Irene Gedalof, “…women’s activities are repeatedly appropriated as makers of national, racial, religious and ethnic communities in dominant discourse of identity.” (Gedalof, 2003, p.91). This analysis reinforces my belief that Chinese diasporic women are far more complex than that. It is crucial to rethink the history and regain authorship, writing our own narratives that reflect the depth of our experiences in the present day. 

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In The Location of Culture, Homi K. Bhabha referenced Adrienne Rich’s poetry, analysing how Rich positions herself at the intersections of different narratives, underscoring the significance of historical and cultural re-visioning. (Bhabha, 1994, pp. 14-15) To review the representation of identity, Liu incorporated her often-used dripping technique to symbolise crying, what she called “weeping realism,” further transferring a sorrowful emotion to the viewer (Moss, D. and Hung Liu Estate, 2024). “I think exploring means finding something you’ve never experienced or seen or heard before,” Liu once noted (Gross, 2012). I found inspiration from Liu and Bhabha and have been encouraged to incorporate different approaches, experimenting with various media, such as oil paint, oil stick, egg tempera, etc,. and different techniques to illustrate and rethink the agency of representation and individuality in my painting.  

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Challenging Otherness 

Liu also noted, “I hope to wash my subjects of their ‘otherness’ and reveal them as dignified, even mythic figures on the grander scale of history painting.” (National Museum of Women in the Arts, 2021). Liu’s approach resonates with my desire to challenge reductive representations and reimagine the expression of identity. I have started my project with self-enquiries, creating a series of self-portraits to represent my “true self”. And with inspiration from Claudette Johnson, I am expressing this idea through the colour of my attire. Also, inspired by Paula Rego, who often added characters from folk tales in her artistic commentaries to critique society and address political issues (Pilger, 2021), I am going to add similar elements to my upcoming paintings. 

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Regarding attire, Denise Kwan, a British-Chinese artist, researcher and writer who has been using adornment and dressing as a tool to investigate Chinese diasporic women’s visibility and how they manage their experiences of otherness. As Kwan observes, “Dressing is one of the most significant ways that people manage feelings of otherness and orientate their identities in a social context. (Dennis Kwan, Dressing up Dressing down p.124) Corresponding Kwan, I realised many of the women portrayed in Liu’s paintings appear dressed simply, reflecting her desire to portray them authentically, free of embellishment.  Inspired by Kwan, I am portraying myself in attire that I usually wear and feel safe wearing them in public spaces, emphasising the authenticity of the identity and experience. 

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Representation vs. stereotyping

Liu and Rego both incorporated metaphorical symbols in their paintings. However, as one grew up in a cityheavily influenced by British culture, I have often struggled to find tangible items or symbols that authentically represent my identity in my painting. I am particularly cautious of falling into stereotypical depictions of “Chineseness”, which raises a critical question: What differentiates authentic representation from stereotyping? According to Bhabha, “The stereotype is a complex, ambivalent, contradictory mode of representation, as anxious as it is assertive, and demands not only that we extend our critical and political objectives but that we change the object of analysis itself.” (Bhabha, 2012, p. 99 ) I believe highlighting individuality and representing the nuances of one’s identity is one of the key challenges I aim to resolve in my practice.

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