The Taotie: Gayle Chong Kwan

Join artist Gayle Chong Kwan as she explores themes in her wider practice in relation to ‘The Taotie’ - diasporic rituals and histories, neolithic funeral vessels, miniature portraits worn on the body, and the politics and provenance of collections. Having recently completed a residency with Compton Verney as part of the 20/20 project, Gayle is currently presenting an exhibition of the work created during this time; a response to Compton Verney’s internationally renowned Chinese collection of bronze food and wine vessels from the Shang Dynasty (about 1500 – about 1050 BCE) to the Ming Dynasty (1369 – 1644 CE) and miniature portrait collections.

The Taotie (2024), the exhibition of new photographic, sculptural, and ritual work that Gayle Chong Kwan developed from her residency, is on show at Compton Verney until March 2026.

Artist Biography

Gayle Chong Kwan is a British artist of Scottish/Chinese-Mauritian heritage whose work is exhibited nationally and internationally. Gayle's art and research explore how interventions in museums, galleries, institutions, and the public realm can challenge their acquisitions, modes of public participation, the status of collections, and the ecologies in which they sit. Her large-scale photographic works, immersive installations, and sensory ritual events act within and against histories of oppression and positions the viewer as one element in a cosmology of the political, social and ecological. She has been awarded a PhD in Fine Art from the Royal College of Art on ‘Imaginal Travel: political and ecological positioning as fine art practice’ (2023).

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About Chelsea Space

Chelsea Space is a public exhibition space at Chelsea College of Arts. The gallery's programme is international and interdisciplinary, reflecting and responding to the artistic approaches, research and interdisciplinary focuses of the College.

The emphasis is on the exposure of process and ideas, critical discourse and relationships with key cultural partners, through a yearly exhibition, residency and events programme.

www.arts.ac.uk/chelsea-space

About The UAL Decolonising Arts Institute

UAL Decolonising Arts Institute seeks to challenge colonial histories and imperial legacies, disrupting ways of seeing, listening, thinking and making, to drives social, cultural and institutional change.

We recognise the importance of past and current research and curriculum change projects at UAL and beyond. These include the ground-breaking AHRC Black Artists and Modernism research project, numerous initiatives led by UAL Teaching and Learning Exchange and Arts SU, as well as wider local and global movements to decolonise, and the complex genealogies and geographies of postcolonial, decolonial and intersectional thinking and practice yet to be reflected in our histories and cultures.

20/20 is generously supported by funding from Freelands Foundation, Arts Council England and UAL.

www.arts.ac.uk/ual-decolonising-arts-institute

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Header image: Installation view, The Taotie by Gayle Chong Kwan. © Compton Verney, photo by Jamie Woodley.

Host or Publisher Chelsea College of Arts, UAL