While the illustrator’s wild days of dating are over, Chanhoi’s exploration of sex has just kicked into gear
Her work blindsides you. Bubblegum colours slam into your eyeballs so hard, your brain takes a beat to realise the cute cartoon doodles are boobs, butts and more. But Claudia Chanhoi’s pieces go deeper than mere shock or titillation. Through a pop art lens, they’ve charted years of a woman’s journey of sexual exploration.
Chanhoi’s goal has always been to further understanding and acceptance of sex and sexuality. This motivation is why she recently launched her third collaboration with Teen’s Key, a Hong Kong charity offering support to women. Chanhoi is raising money for Teen’s Key by selling merchandise featuring her art and is also producing new illustrations for use in a sex education course for young people.
Here, Chanhoi explains how everything in her life has shifted focus, from her art to her ideology, but that the spectre of judgement everywhere else remains the same.
A year ago, I created illustrations for a sex toy brand survey about Hong Kong sexuality. Some answers surprised me. For instance, 38 percent of people surveyed thought that using sex toys made them a pervert or 47 percent worried they’d be rejected by their partners for their fantasies. A lot of sex toy companies have popped up in the market but at the same time, attitudes remain quite reductive.
Hong Kong-based clients often request I remove genital imagery or ask me to create something that won’t seem obviously sexual. When the project is supposed to be about sexual power or sexuality, that’s conflicting.
I read the sex ed syllabus back in the mid-2000s and it’s largely remained the same since. That’s scary. If schools don’t teach proper sexual health, then most young people will just turn to the internet or their friends, and their friends won’t know any better than them.
