Introduction : Ink Sculptures 2017 - present
I am motivated by self-discovery and self-mythologizing; I create narratives that conjure impressions of ancient past, belonging, migration, desire, and the fluid and often fraught conditions of our time. In 2015 I used a traditional Chinese ink stick for a site-specific performance/installation in Shanghai. I went on to learn Chinese ink-making techniques to explore its potential. The medium is animal-based - organic - and is impermanent and transformative. Over seven years I developed an ink for sculpture, applying these traditional methods and characteristics before completing my first life-size body cast of myself in my own ink.
Ink is a founding tool in our global civilizations, history and understanding of one another. Though colonized for centuries and slowly being lost to digital technology, ink is still as ubiquitous as water and air, and is a powerful implement for change.
That my ink is of my heritage and transformative is a fundamental principle and is building a language that represents me.
For more, please connect with me here. Follow me on Instagram @_____ellenjong
