STATEMENT

Gigi Tsim (b.2004) is a Hongkonger artist primarily working in Painting. Her practice focuses on themes of migration and political oppression through depictions of Hong Kong cityscapes that evoke collective memory.

Currently doing her BA degree in Fine Art: Painting at the Camberwell College of Arts, UAL, her work primarily focuses on depicting her observations of her own life, as well as others around her. 

Having had a particular sensitivity to people, her early work was composed of a large amount of portraiture, focusing on capturing the essence of life in the visages of her loved ones, and those around her. 

In 2022, Tsim left Hong Kong due to increasing restrictions on freedom of expression, which is essential to her practice. Since emigrating to London, she has been developing her nostalgic White Paintings series, characterised by the use of white. Though painting incomplete images from her past, these works reflect displaced Hongkongers' personal and collective struggles. She also “appropriates” Taiwanese cityscapes that evoke Hong Kong, navigating her identity struggle as a Hongkonger with Taiwanese citizenship, seeking refuge in the UK.

 Her practice has recently evolved into distinct bodies of work, each exploring different narratives and materials. A renewed interest in materiality led to experimentation with alternative painting surfaces, notably the iconic red-white-blue fabric as a symbol of migration.

 Drawing from Zen philosophies to process migratory grief, Tsim delves into traditional Chinese ink painting that blend memory, intuition, and the natural flow of ink. Abstract mark-making serves as their foundation, while urban motifs like fences ground the pieces in a structure familiar to both artist and audience.

 Her latest series, Rage Paintings, marks a stark departure from the quiet reflectiveness within White Paintings. For these works, abstract, “crummy” black paint and other found materials like bark and micro-trash are thickly applied to small-scale wood panels. The produced images are somewhat like the aftermath of an explosion, but they feel very contained due to the size of the work. Prompted by the 2024 sentencing of the Hong Kong 47, this highly political series directly confronts the Chinese Communist Party's transnational oppression.

 Ongoing experimentation with material continue to inspire her work as she seeks to find the balance between displacement, oppression and belonging.

 Previously, Tsim's style was described as vibrant and intense, however, her current work takes on a palette of lower saturation, with an absence of human presence. She is very excited to see where this new direction will take her.