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When
you do a handstand, you look at the world from an opposite angle.
“The
strong patriarchal system of discourse in Chinese Feudal times
precluded any possibility of the existence of a complete or
independent life for women. . . . There were only two kinds
of women who might have had the right to paint: the Courtesan
of the inner chambers and the Prostitute of the outside world.”[1]
This speaks of the traditional art practice of the gentlemen
scholars of feudal China.
In
her new series of painting, Doris Sung experiments with the
traditional medium of ink and wash, thus opening a dialogue
between herself and the values and taboos that had been underwritten
into the classical Chinese parlour art.
Using
ink, xuan paper and ink jet prints on canvas as platform, she
plotted with embroidery floss maps, charts and graphs that reflect
numbers and statistics concerning a woman’s life. These numbers
are modern derivations from medicine and technology, with which
women begin to take control of their own lives. Ironically,
these data and what they signify are often measured through
male standards. This irony is further conveyed through the use
of embroidery in Sung's work. Embroidery was a traditional social
skill by which women’s worthiness was measured. However, for
some women, it was their way of expressing their creativity,
needs and desires, as often seen in folk embroidery and quilting.
The works are about the dichotomies of desire and denial, and
the breakthroughs that emerge from contradictions.
It
is another world that you see when you do a handstand.
[1] Tumultuous History of China's Feminist Values and Art by
Liao Wen from http://www.chinese-art.com
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