All posts tagged: Ilaria Maria Sala

Welcome >_< Take a Seat Wherever  (cringevibing on a downward spiral)歡迎光臨矛盾漩渦 >_<

Published by Artomity Magazine

Various artists / Tomorrow Maybe at Eaton / Hong Kong / Aug 13 – Sept 3, 2023 / Ilaria Maria Sala / As you enter the exhibition space on the fourth floor of the Eaton Hotel, you are greeted by a small print of an image macro, a digital picture with text superimposed, hanging from the roof, attached with string and clips. It features an image of a manga girl sitting on a messy bed with her legs bent against her chest, provocatively showing the back of her upper thighs, left uncovered by her pink miniskirt – coordinating with her pink baby shoes – her mouth hiding behind a mobile phone. The floor is strewn with all sorts of items: shopping bags and takeaway containers, bits of paper and other undecipherable debris. On top is the sentence that gives the show part of its title: “Welcome >_< take a seat wherever” (not that there is anywhere to sit in this rubbish-piled room). Internet neologisms, and neologisms from internet neologisms – like the cringevibing of the show’s title – …

Chow Chun Fai 周俊輝

Published by Artomity Magazine

Portraits from Behind / Gallery Exit / Hong Kong / Mar 14 – Jun 13, 2020 / Ilaria Maria Sala / Throughout the summer of 2019, as Hong Kong was shaken by the most intense mass protests the city has ever witnessed, photography moved from ubiquitous to a scrutinised medium for recording reality. As thousands were arrested and charged with rioting, protesters started to ask onlookers not to take their portraits, to avoid being identified. At the same time, border officials decided to scrutinise what people saw, and asked to check the telephones of those who wanted to cross into mainland China, looking at their photos to determine if they had taken part in the protests. Social media posts appeared with participants’ faces blurred or cropped out. More frequently, people would take public photos that only showed people’s backs, making identification impossible. Hong Kong artist Chow Chun Fai’s new solo exhibition at Gallery Exit, Portraits from Behind, moves along the same lines. On a series of small canvases that illustrate stills from the protests, no face is recognisable, with the exception of two self-portraits, in …