Hing Yee Cheung

Sophie Cheung, Erasing News - Liminal colour of apple, moon and sun, Ink erased from newspapers (Apple Daily and Mingpao) on 600 erasers, 64 x 64.5 cm, 2020

Sophie 張馨儀 Hong Kong b.1983

Cheung Hing Yee, Sophie is an artist, writer, poet, and disability rights activist. She received Bachelor of Arts (Fine Art) of RMIT University, a programme co-presented with Hong Kong Art School, majoring in Painting. She obtained a Diploma in Fine Art at Hong Kong Art School (2007) and a Certificate in Visual Arts at The Art School, Hong Kong Arts Centre (2004). Currently, she is finishing the MA Applied Anthropology and Community Arts in Goldsmiths, University of London.

Cheung is a life-long advocate for disability rights, having worked as community developer in an NGO in mainland China, and a contributor to the implementation of United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD). In 2015, Cheung published a book ‘Disabilities CV: The Stories of the Persons with Psycho-social Disability in Hong Kong’ 殘疾資歷 香港精神障礙者文集 that examines and re-conceptualizes the multi-faceted meanings of disability and the disability experience in an attempt to effect a paradigm shift towards social inclusion, challenging the dichotomous relation between “barriers” and “resources”.

As an artist, Sophie is intrigued by the theme of freestanding – to treat objects as subjects. Her practice is informed by the concept of the subjectile—a paradoxical fusion of both subject and object. Cheung presents mundane tools such as erasers, pens, or newspapers as metamorphic objects that possess subjective integrity. Therefore, she seeks to articulate problematic aspects of subjective status by adopting a creative process that presents subjective integrity as if it is contiguous with objects as the exploration of painting or drawing materiality, as well as her instruments to bring out in-betweenness of construction and deconstruction.

On the other hand, Sophie is an award-winning artist - obtaining significant art awards in Hong Kong including The First- Runner up of Hong Kong Human Rights Arts Prize 2018, presented by Justice Centre Hong Kong and supported by European Union Office of Hong Kong & Macau.

Currently, she is represented by a significant art gallery Ora-Ora in Hong Kong.

Instagram: cheunghingyee_sophie