The Three Shades, 2025
65H x 115W x 80D , dimensions variable
A trio of freestanding, life-sized feminine figures of the artist are cast in layers of dehydrated ink. Liquid ink continually circulates through the Ink Bodies, emerging from each sculpture to drip from a open palm, clenched fist, and a wrung cloth. The title references Auguste Rodin’s The Three Shades (1886), a trio of male figures that preside over the entrance to The Gates of Hell. Jong reimagines this image, replacing despair with agency. Drawing on historical representations of women at fountains, the figures become both source and subject, no longer passive vessels but generators of the very material that they are of. Here, the Ink Body is a site for resilience, labor, desire and creation.
