MEET OUR LOCALS
interview: Pamela Leung
Pamela Leung is artist in residence at Gallery Lane Cove + Creative Studios. A local resident for 20 years, she is looking forward to her solo exhibition, Longing for Home, adjacent to the national touring exhibition Drawn by Stones through April and May.
The Meeting Place
What is the inspiration behind your solo exhibition Longing for Home?
I noticed paper is a key art material in your artworks. What special meaning does the medium hold for you?
Since 2019, I have felt so sad and heartbroken watching how Hong Kong is changing in political status, and how the young people and the dissidents are being arrested and treated. The 'National Security Law', the new law that the Hong Kong government brought out last year, has taken away civil liberties such as freedom of speech, freedom of the press, and the law of justice of Hong Kong. Hongkongers are losing faith in this city, they are forced to leave and some of them might not be able to go back until the political situation changes. Sadly, I’m afraid I have lost my hometown. Nowadays this place is so strange to me that it is not the same place I was born and raised.
Paper is the everyday material we come across the most: newspapers, books, money, toilet paper and so on.
Another inspiration for me has been the last two years of COVID and how that meant people could not travel home and say goodbye to lost family members.
My work is about everyday life, humanity, relationship, conditions, and social justice from an immigrant's perspective. I often tell stories from my experience and emotions. I believe what has happened to me could be applied to others.
12 TVO
I choose paper as my medium, especially for drawing and painting, because I find it connected to my identity and my culture. For the most part, I use rice paper, but I don’t just work with ink. Instead, I try to explore different mediums such as sewing cotton on it, or mixing with pastel, ink and beeswax. This experiment shows how I bring the East and West cultures together. Can you share your making process of concept development to artwork realisation? How important is it for you to work in a site-specific manner and why?
