Video artist and Chinese opera performer Maurice Lai
Video artist and Chinese opera performer Maurice Lai collaborated with choreographer Yuri Ng and ballet dancer Nishijima Kazuhiro to create a film inspired by French director, artist and writer, Jean Cocteau. He reveals his erotic plots and strange artistic passions to Cheryl Wong Wing-zi.
HK Magazine: This piece is pretty homoerotic, don’t you think?
Maurice Lai: I think it’s not only homoerotic, but an erotic film for both men and women. When you see this video, the protagonist will attract even straight guys. I’m not only attracted to females, I’m also sometimes attracted to males. I wanted the film to communicate that to the viewer by exposing a beautiful man. We got these ideas by looking at Cocteau’s drawings. We then saw the camera as the drawing paper, as the canvas.
HK: Are you a voyeur?
ML: Sometimes. I like to observe people and their environment. When I take the minibus, I always sit at the back and watch people. Sometimes really attractive women get on the bus and I see how the men react – it’s very interesting. You see most of the men look at the girl and you begin to understand why that kind of person is attractive. There’s a boilerplate for what’s attractive: a woman wearing a short skirt. When I see these girls, 100 percent of the men will look at her, even if her face isn’t very pretty. Her face is the last thing a man will look at.
HK: Are you into androgyny?
ML: I think beautiful things are not separated by sex - beautiful things are beautiful things. In this video, my basic idea was to show a beautiful human being, not specifically a man or a woman. In Chinese opera, it’s always this way - a female acts a male’s roles and vice versa.
HK: Have you performed as a woman in Chinese opera?
ML: I’m too tall to play a female, but if there were an opportunity, I would try to play a female role. I prepare myself for Cantonese opera by taking a quiet moment to calm down before performing. It’s fun, although we always get headaches because of the hair. After getting our make-up done, we wear tight, heavy wigs that press into your temples. But I enjoy getting into costume. You become a very different person. And I like the pink make-up - it’s impressive.