Clara Cheung

Thesis

The Articulation of Hong Kong Art and Hongkonger Identity in Outward-facing Exhibitions in the 1960s–80s

Supervisors: Ana Bilbao and Richard Johns

Research interests

In contrast to other former British colonies in Southeast Asia, Hong Kong's political decolonisation process commenced later and remains incomplete due to the absence of a self-determination opportunity.  Being handed-over by the British government to the People’s Republic of China (PRC) in 1997, Hong Kong was not decolonised, but entered into a neo-colonial or second-colonial period.  Tracing the emergence of the Hongkonger consciousness and subjectivity in the outward facing art exhibitions in the 1960s - early 80s, the current thesis attempts to contribute to Hong Kong’s decolonial project by providing a nuanced art exhibition history of Hong Kong that disrupts the dominant cultural narratives of Hong Kong art of the period, most notably the reductive formalist framework that has historically detached the modern ink art movement from its socio-political context.

Papers & Publications

• Wong, Wayne, and Clara Cheung. 2025. “Embodied Resistance: Hong Kong Diaspora Art in the UK.” Asian Ethnicity, December, 1–27.
• Clara Cheung, "Painting Hong-Kong in the Gap of Sense Memory and Collective Memory," Aspectus: A Journal of Visual Culture, no. 5 (2023).