Hong Kong’s first major exhibition dedicated to LGBTQ Art opens at Tai Kwun

Tai Kwun and Sunpride Foundation stage Spectrosynthesis III: Myth Makers

Thirty years ago, Patrick Sun told his mother he was gay. “She was incredibly upset and stressed out,” says Sun, recalling her reaction. “She thought I was sick and that I had to be cured, so she sent me to see a doctor. Nowadays that would be a politically incorrect response.” Nonetheless, Sun obliged, heading to Singapore to see a psychiatrist, as his mother didn’t want word of his sexuality to get out among Hong Kong friends, relatives and business associates. “I’m glad I went,” says Sun. “The psychiatrist told my mother I was very well-adjusted; she needed to hear from him that there wasn’t anything wrong with me.”

Above Patrick Sun, founder of Sunpride Foundation (Photo: courtesy of Patrick Sun)

Three decades on, Sun continues to spread the message in support of members of the queer community. He is co-presenting Myth Makers—Spectrosynthesis III, the first major exhibition dedicated to LGBTQ+ art and perspectives in Hong Kong. Sun is the founder of Sunpride Foundation, an arts organisation dedicated to exhibiting and preserving art which aims to foster a more equitable world for LGBTQ+ people and their allies, which he founded in 2014 shortly after his mother passed away.

Sunpride’s first exhibition, Spectrosynthesis I, took place at Taipei’s Museum of Contemporary Art in 2017; the second, Spectrosynthesis II, at the Bangkok Arts and Culture Centre in 2019. The third itineration, Myth Makers—Spectrosynthesis III opened in December 2022 at Tai Kwun, and runs until April this year. After his first exhibition in Taipei, a city which is famously more inclusive when it comes to LGBTQ+ rights, many of Sun’s friends expressed doubts that he would be able to bring a similar show to his hometown. The fact that he has prompted Sun to reflect on the progress made in the years since he came out to his mother. It also “gives [me] optimism that, even though the world might be changing in many bad ways, in this aspect [LGBTQ+ visibility] it’s moving in the right direction”.

While his long-term goals through the foundation’s work includes fuelling momentum towards procuring anti-discrimination rights for the LGBTQ community in Hong Kong, his short-term aims are as simple as increasing respect for the community through his exhibitions. “If you see great art, everyone will be moved,” says Sun. “Ultimately the show is not only about LGBTQ issues, but it’s also a great art show.”

Above Installation view of Myth Makers at Tai Kwun (Photo: courtesy of Tai Kwun Contemporary and South Ho)

Put together by independent curators Chantal Wong and Inti Guerrero, Myth Makers is divided into three chapters featuring more than 100 artworks displayed across all Tai Kwun Contemporary galleries, with one-third of the works on loan from Sunpride’s collection.

The first chapter features work by artists who explore queerness in mythology and folklore that indicates queer identity is as old as that of humanity and far from a modern or western invention. “Arguments against the LGBTQ+ community [especially in Asia] argue that it’s a western import,” says Wong. “We’re trying to anchor the idea of gender fluidity, queerness and same-sex love in a history in which it is not a modern development.” Works here include Songs of Goddesses (2022), a new commission by Hong Kong artist Ellen Pau which explores how Cantonese opera abstractly depicts same-sex relationships and gender-fluid characters; as well as pieces by now well-known regional artists such as Malaysian Patrick Ng, India’s Bhuppen Kakkar and Filipino American Alfonso Ossorio, who worked in the 1950s and 1960s, when vocabularies for queerness didn’t exist.

Above Patrick Ng Kah Onn's Self-Portrait with Friends (1962) (Photo: courtesy of Tai Kwun Contemporary)

The second chapter looks at the fact that homosexuality was a crime in the city until 1991—the site’s past existence as a prison adds weight to the work’s historical context and relevance. The third chapter imagines queer futurism, “where queerness serves as a potential that is continuously being explored”, Wong explains. Works featured include pieces by noted and up-and-coming contemporary artists such as Wang Shui and Joshua Serafin which go deep into mythologies and older cultural references, and posit alternatives as to how we can reconsider queer identities in the future. “It’s a speculative space, but there are propositions,” says Wong.

Prompting reflection on the growth in acceptance and understanding of the LGBTQ+ community in Hong Kong, the exhibition highlights possibilities for the further advancement in the future. While Sun is optimistic, he notes the challenges the community still faces, which he hopes his work through Sunpride and staging exhibitions can confront. “There still is discrimination in countries as open as Thailand, both socially and legally; there’s always room for improvement. And we’re [Hong Kong is] way behind Taiwan in legalising civil union; we don’t even have anti-discrimination laws.”

Above Wang Shui’s Scr∴pe (2022) (Photo: courtesy of Tai Kwun Contemporary and South Ho)

While in the long term he hopes that laws will change to include anti-discrimination protection, his short-term goals target changing social attitudes of the general public and helping the LGBTQ community find a sense of belonging. “I hope they [LGBTQ+ community] feel seen presented in a public institution and I want everyone—straight and LGBTQ+—to come and realise that we have such great artists.”

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Topics

Patrick Sun Queer Art LGBTQ+ Asian Art Contemporary Art Tai Kwun

Tatler Asia

Hong Kong’s first major LGBTQ+ art exhibition opens at Tai Kwun