‘Psalm for a Hungry Ghost’ offers an intimate view in to the often unseen lives of Chinese restaurant keepers. Using a blend of comedy, one-(wo)man showmanship and contemporary art performance, PSALM plays with preconceived notions of a silent diaspora and paints a portrait of a flawed masculine archetype.

‘Psalm for a Hungry Ghost’ was performed in a Dutch and English version in 2025 at Hotel Maria Kapel, Hoorn. 

New scenographic pieces were developed for the duo-exhibition ‘We Don’t Need Another Hero,’ with Jay Tan, at Wei Ling Contemporary, Kuala Lumpur. 

This project was developed in collaboration with:
Szymon Adamczak,
Raffia Li (Dramaturgy)
Honey Kraiwee (Curatorial support)
Alexander Geijzendorffer (Gym development and production)
Charlotte Brand (Videography & Trailer)
Bart Treuren (Photography)

The development of this project was supported by:
If I Can’t Dance, I Don’t Want To Be Part Of Your Revolution within the framework of Open Rehearsal 2024; CBK Rotterdam and Het CultuurFonds

I See You in
My Dreams

2024, Acrylic on lightbox

A series of lightboxes that draws from the public vernacular of Chinatowns in the Netherlands. What names, faces and histories are embedded in the signs that adorn our urban environment? Taking inspiration from personal history as well as their day-to-day surroundings, the series pays tribute to the Chinese restaurant and service industry in Rotterdam.

Presented during Wild Summer of Art ‘24, BRUTUS, Rotterdam
Photography: Aad Hoogendoorn

In Search of
a Better Life

2022, Gelatin sculpture installation

The installation shows six koi carps surrounding a white lotus flower. The koi, commonly seen in chinese restaurants, are a symbol of prosperity. Crafted entirely from agar agar and gelatin, some cut into partitions, the jellies invite childlike wonder and awe while they probe dominant imaginaries of a diasporic culture that manifests through its function to serve and to be consumed.

Photography: Aleksander Johan Andreassen

Lotus Flowers

2022, Film, duration 08:45 min

In this short film, I ask my mother to teach me how to fold the lotus flower napkins that we used to have on our restaurant table setting. During the folding tutorial, we talk about different connotations surrounding the lotus flower and memories of our restaurant Choong Kee (撂记).

In the film I ask her whether she has ever seen a  lotus flower in real life. She answers that she has seen them in Malaysia, in the wild. She followed that wild lotus flowers should never be picked, as those who try get caught in the surrounding quicksand and drown. In this I heard a metaphor for the diasporic experience– many Asian families venture to the West in search of a better life, only to get stuck with no way back.

Conversation:
Yin Yin Wong, Jenny Tong

Sound editing:
Aleksander Johan Andreassen

Translation:
Dorothy Cheung

Selfportrait Installations

2022, Site specific installations

Through a daily practice of drawing self-portraits, I play with possibilities of self-presentation but also with the imperative to give countenance to identities that have long been excluded or marginalized. Growing up in a diaspora, I did not have many South-East Asian (and queer) role models presented to me through media, public life, culture or national history.

With the selfportrait installations I am showing myself publicly while at the same time emphasising the friction between myself and the architecture that surrounds me. Am I the outsider looking in or the insider looking out?

Installations:
‘ZATERDAG 5 Februari 2022’,
Jan van Eyck Academy, Maastricht

‘DINSDAG 5 April 2022’,
Onze Lieve Vrouweplein, Maastricht