Breaking Free

The loss of most of her vision marked a major shift in her artmaking. Not only did Chng start using increasingly diverse materials, she also began to develop a more introspective and philosophical perspective, and with that came her acknowledgement and acceptance of working as an artist with a disability. In this gallery, you will see some of Chng’s sculptures and installations, each of them markedly different in theme and medium, but all indicative of Chng’s playfulness as a maker and her desire to break boundaries and experiment. Placed on the floor is her work titled Pursue and Think Fondly of (I), made up of hollow papier-mâché spheres filled with bells, with extracts and idioms drawn from both traditional and contemporary Chinese literature painted on them. I invite you to also take a closer look at Game of Chess and Rolling Red Dust. Both of them are larger scale works made later in her career, but hark back to her days as an art student in Europe where she experimented with installation art. Made in 1999 and 2006 respectively, these works were intended by the artist to be participative. Can you imagine how you would move through and interact with these installations? When you are done, please continue to the far wall behind Game of Chess, where your tour continues.