Hong Kong art show explores the masculine and feminine energies within everyone
Daisy Chan, the curator behind the upcoming ‘The Feminine Awakens’ show, reveals her paintings are a tribute to her partner, who lost his battle with cancer. He made her realise that men can have both masculine and feminine traits, she says
Hong Kong artist Daisy Chan would like to clarify a few things about “The Feminine Awakens”, an exhibition in which she not only features but has also curated.
“It is not about feminism or the rise of women,” says Chan, settling into a chair at a coffee shop in Causeway Bay. “It’s about the feminine energy that is in all of us.
“Growing up, I thought only women could be soft, nurturing and caring but now I realise that men and women both have masculine and feminine energies within them. When we are in our masculine, we are striving and achieving, and when we are in our feminine, we are listening and flowing. It’s not that one is better than the other, it’s that our true power lies in the equilibrium of the two.”
The show, which opens at the Hong Kong Arts Centre, in Wan Chai, on Tuesday, has a strong personal connection for Chan, with three of her paintings paying tribute to her partner, Wayne, who lost his battle with cancer in February.
“He was nurturing and caring – once he brought home a kitten that he had found on the side of a road,” Chan says. “He showed me that men can have both masculine and feminine traits.”
One of Chan’s paintings shows a rose, a nod to a friend’s funeral when the artist was holding a rose that broke. Another is a painting of a candle, titled I Am Here.