Liyen Chong
Malaysia / Aotearoa New Zealand / United States, b.1979
Flying Oblique
- 2012
- Archival inkjet print
- Purchased, 2016
- 2016/041
Tags: circles (plane figures), desks, hair, mirrors, monochrome, people (agents), women (female humans)
Liyen Chong is perhaps best known for a series of embroideries she made using her own hair, one of which, I am Here and There (2007), is also held in our collection. She made Flying Oblique just after she had decided she would not make any more embroideries – and just before she had her hair shorn off completely. Named after a position in the Chinese martial art of Tai Chi, it suggests both Chong’s awareness of her outward appearance and a desire to move beyond it. Using a camera with a self-timed shutter, she has caught herself mid-swing, her long hair forming a sweeping curve that echoes several other circular elements she has placed around her studio.
(We do this, 12 May 2018 - 26 May 2019)