Hsin Min Chan

Groping hands, fingers, human body parts distorted and recombined into hybrid shapes and images — the first impression in Hsin Min Chan’s studio is one of aggressive and repelling forces at work in a precarious equilibrium. Executed in ceramics, Chan’s visual research into systems of objectification results in visceral impressions that remap the body, disturbing, redirecting the gaze. Seeking to reclaim agency through transformation, the artist subjects (images of) her own body to extreme contortions — tying her leg with a string for instance, until it is beyond recognition, beyond objectification. Various fragments thus derived combine into a central piece, a ‘hot sauce fountain’ that emphasizes physicality, desire and distance. It uses satire to critique the terrible reality of racist abuse, sex tourism and exploitation looming behind the language of colonisation and the exotic gaze. The clay shouts in agony, anger and resistance. The struggle continues, but the body refuses to be consumed.