Liyen Chong

Malaysia / Aotearoa New Zealand / United States, b.1979

Flying Oblique

  • 2012
  • Archival inkjet print
  • Purchased, 2016
  • 2016/041

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)

Exhibition History