Angela Su
Hong Kong
Split Stitch, 2019
Hair embroidery on fabric
49.2x55.8x4.5cm
Trained as a biochemist before turning to the visual arts, Su creates biomorphic forms that blend scientific precision with mythological aesthetics. Su’s practice firmly places the human body in the nucleus of her works, whether these bodies are her own or others’, real or imaginary, historical or speculative. The body is a vehicle to call upon a wide range of concerns, from masochistic pain and the suffering of being, to techniques of medical surgery, bionic cyborgisation and artificial consciousness that edge over to post-humanism.
This work was part of a new body of works created during the turbulent protesting months in Hong Kong (since June 2019. In it she examines the act of sewing in the medium of hair embroidery. The artist intentionally subverts the traditional notion of sewing as a feminine activity inhabiting the domestic sphere, and portrays it as an extreme form of protest in the public domain. Along with drawings that allegorise bodily fragmentation and schizophrenia, the artist critiques the physical and psychological experiences of living in the post-colonial city state.
This work was part of a new body of works created during the turbulent protesting months in Hong Kong (since June 2019. In it she examines the act of sewing in the medium of hair embroidery. The artist intentionally subverts the traditional notion of sewing as a feminine activity inhabiting the domestic sphere, and portrays it as an extreme form of protest in the public domain. Along with drawings that allegorise bodily fragmentation and schizophrenia, the artist critiques the physical and psychological experiences of living in the post-colonial city state.