Isaac Chong Wai reflects in “Crying People” (2022), a Serigraphy on fine art paper, on the fine line between genuine drama and exaggeration. The works are based on images of state funerals in China and North Korea, where grief is publicly staged. At the monumental funerals of totalitarian leaders, large numbers of people expressed their patriotism through near-hysterical displays of mourning, which were in turn captured by international media to render visible the state-orchestrated myth-making of grief. By adding artificial tears to the existing images, Chong heightens this emotional exaggeration.
Read through the lens of “Being Alone,” this asymmetry reveals how political systems shape the circulation and legibility of emotion. What emerges is not merely censorship, but a more subtle erosion of shared affect: a condition in which grief - when it cannot be collectively articulated, leads to a broader inability to resonate, thereby producing a profound sense of loneliness.
“Crying People”, 2022
Isaac Chong Wai
Serigraphy on fine art paper, framed by cable chain and metal bar
56.5 x 75.5 cm (print size) 63 x 80 cm (framed)
Isaac Chong Wai is a Berlin-Hong Kong artist. He was a participating artist in the 60th Venice Biennale, “Foreigners Everywhere,” curated by Adriano Pedrosa. His work addresses queer identity politics, Asian diasporic histories, and systemic racism to imagine alternative microcosms of human relationality.
Dates
Credits
Part of ”Being Alone - Artistic Perspectives from Central and East Asia and Beyond“, a project within “Solitude: Loneliness & Freedom,” an initiative of the Goethe-Institutes in East and Central Asia in cooperation with HAU Hebbel am Ufer. Curatorial contribution by Jenny Jiaying Chen. Courtesy of the artist and Zilberman, Istanbul/Berlin.
Location
HAU2
Hallesches Ufer 34, 10963 BerlinThere are two marked parking spots in front of the building. Barrier-free restroom facilities are available. Four relaxed seats are available in the first row of HAU2.
