Ming Wong Life of Imitation 2009, video still. Courtesy of the Artist and Vitamin Creative Space
12 rooms in Media Networks
Discover two artists who use costume and performance to play with constructions of race, nationality and gender
Ming Wong and Tseng Kwong Chi’s work explores cultural difference and belonging. The artists use re-enactment to confront and subvert societal constructions of race and identity.
Tseng used a large-format camera and shutter release cable to stage self-portraits at tourist sites in the US and Europe. He wore a ‘Zhongshan suit’ or ‘Mao suit’ (a tunic-style suit with a flipped collar) to adopt the identity of a Chinese government official. Tseng’s performance reveals the prejudice of observers, who may assume he is a communist foreign dignitary visiting a famous Western landmark. This portrayal contrasts with Tseng’s identity as an artist living and working in New York.
Wong makes artworks that imagine alternative histories of cinema. In Life of Imitation Wong inverts the title of Douglas Sirk’s 1959 Hollywood melodrama Imitation of Life. The film examines racial identity and notions of ‘passing.’* In Wong’s version, he restages an emotionally charged scene between a Black maid and her daughter, who is light-skinned and able to ‘pass’ as white. Wong employs male actors from the three dominant ethnic groups of Singapore: Chinese, Malay and Indian. By casting men in these female roles, Wong draws a connection between the exaggerated movements and expressions of melodrama with that of drag, while also complicating notions of Singaporean identity.
* ‘Passing’ is a term used to describe the act of giving the outward appearance of a different racial identity to one’s own, usually to access social and economic benefits conventionally enjoyed by the more privileged majority.
Ming Wong, Life of Imitation 2009
In these billboard paintings, Ming Wong expands the fictional universe of his video installation Life of Imitation to include promotional posters. These artworks are reminiscent of the ‘golden age’ of Singaporean cinema during the 1950s and 1960s. Hand-painted billboards were traditionally used to advertise new releases, considered to be newsworthy events in a time when films could only be consumed as communal events in movie theatres.
Gallery label, November 2022
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artworks in Ming Wong and Tseng Kwong Chi
Tseng Kwong Chi, London, England (Tower Bridge) 1983
Tseng Kwong Chi’s work explores cultural difference and belonging. He uses re-enactment to confront and subvert societal constructions of race and identity. Tseng used a large-format camera and shutter release cable to stage self-portraits at tourist sites in the US and Europe. He wore a ‘Zhongshan suit’ or ‘Mao suit’ (a tunic-style suit with a flipped collar) to adopt the identity of a Chinese government official. Tseng’s performance reveals the prejudice of observers, who may assume he is a communist foreign dignitary visiting a famous Western landmark. This portrayal contrasts with Tseng’s identity as an artist living and working in New York.
Gallery label, November 2022
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artworks in Ming Wong and Tseng Kwong Chi
Tseng Kwong Chi, New York, New York (Empire State) 1979, printed 2018
This black and white silver gelatin black and white photograph is part of a larger body of work by the Hong Kong-born American photographer Tseng Kwong Chi known as the East Meets West series or the Expeditionary Portrait Series. This series, which Tseng began in the late 1970s and continued into the 1980s, is his best-known work (see also San Francisco, California (Trans Am) 1979, printed 2008, Tate P82467, and London, England (Tower Bridge) 1983, printed 2018, Tate P14982). The artist photographed himself in front of popular tourist sites, both in the United States and elsewhere. He is rigidly positioned, wearing a Zhonghan or ‘Mao suit’ and a deadpan expression. Co-opting the identity of a Chinese government official or dignitary, Tseng shot these images himself, setting up his camera, situating himself within the composition and clicking the shutter release cable, which is often visible in his hand. About his intention in making the works, he stated: ‘My mirrored glasses give the picture a neutral impact and a surrealistic quality I’m looking for. I am an inquisitive traveller, a witness of my time, and an ambiguous ambassador … My photographs are social studies and social comments on Western society and its relationship with the East. [I pose] as a Chinese tourist in front of monuments of Europe, America and elsewhere.’ (Quoted on artist’s website, http://www.tsengkwongchi.com/, accessed 20 May 2018.)
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artworks in Ming Wong and Tseng Kwong Chi
Tseng Kwong Chi, San Francisco, California (Trans Am) 1979, printed 2008
This black and white silver gelatin black and white photograph is part of a larger body of work by the Hong Kong-born American photographer Tseng Kwong Chi known as the East Meets West series or the Expeditionary Portrait Series. This series, which Tseng began in the late 1970s and continued into the 1980s, is his best-known work (see also New York, New York (Empire State) 1979, printed 2018, Tate P82466, and London, England (Tower Bridge) 1983, printed 2018, Tate P14982). The artist photographed himself in front of popular tourist sites, both in the United States and elsewhere. He is rigidly positioned, wearing a Zhonghan or ‘Mao suit’ and a deadpan expression. Co-opting the identity of a Chinese government official or dignitary, Tseng shot these images himself, setting up his camera, situating himself within the composition and clicking the shutter release cable, which is often visible in his hand. About his intention in making the works, he stated: ‘My mirrored glasses give the picture a neutral impact and a surrealistic quality I’m looking for. I am an inquisitive traveller, a witness of my time, and an ambiguous ambassador … My photographs are social studies and social comments on Western society and its relationship with the East. [I pose] as a Chinese tourist in front of monuments of Europe, America and elsewhere.’ (Quoted on artist’s website, http://www.tsengkwongchi.com/, accessed 20 May 2018.)
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artworks in Ming Wong and Tseng Kwong Chi
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