# Leung Mee Ping

Leung Mee Ping (梁美萍; born 1961) is a Hong Kong artist. Leung's research-based artistic practice integrates elements of theatre, design, and social space. Leung's works explore issues and themes related to visual culture, effects of globalisation, memory, and material culture.

## Personal life and education

Leung Mee Ping grew up in a broken family. While studying in primary school, she won a drawing competition. Since that time, she started to fall into drawing and calligraphy.
Leung moved out when she was very young after her parents separated. Despite this, she has always been close to her mother and sisters, who support her and are a main theme of Leung's artworks. After working in a bookstore for two years, Leung saved up and was admitted into École nationale supérieure des Beaux-Arts. In 1983, Leung Mee Ping left Hong Kong and began her art studies in Paris. There, she learned to paint in abstract and expressionist styles. Before she graduated from L' École nationale supérieure des Beaux-Arts a Paris in 1991, she started exploring with alternative materials to create art. She began creating her work, "Elsewhere (1991-2014)", initiated by a close friend's passing, during this time. It is a mixed media installation consisting of thousands of tea bags sewn together. Made through the repetitive action of sewing teabags, Leung's work is meditative contemplation on being and death. She won the Premier prix Rocheron Award for this work in 1991. Apart from tea bags, various objects such as quail eggs, photos, tiles etc. began to be incorporated in Leung's mixed media art and installation works.
After returning to Hong Kong in 1994, she held her first solo exhibition "Mixed-Media Work by LEUNG MEE PING" in Fringe Club. Leung also worked as an art editor of the Hong Kong Economic Times (hket, a financial daily in Hong Kong). In early 1996, she became a founding member of Para Site, helping to set up the new artist-run space. In 1998, she emigrated to USA and obtained her MFA from California Institute of Arts in 2000.
Following her MFA, Leung obtained a Ph.D from Chinese University of Hong Kong (Religious & Cultural Studies Department). In 2018, she became a Professor at the Academy of Visual Arts, Hong Kong Baptist University.

## Exhibitions

Leung's works mainly focuses on the ethic, community and memories of the human living situation, They also examine daily life through the perception of daily life itself. Art genres include mixed-media, video, multi-media installation and site-specific event-based project.

### Solo exhibitions

| Year | Title | Location |
| 2015 | Display Distribute: Made in Shenzhen | Display Distribute, Yau Ma Tei, Hong Kong |
| 2014 | Star Pupas | FLEETING LIGHTS Project, Lower Piazza, Hong Kong Science Museum, Hong Kong |
| 2014 | Made in Hong Kong | Osage Gallery, Hong Kong |
| 2013 | Don't Blame the Moon | Singapore Art Fair, Hong Kong AP Contemporary, Singapore |
| 2012 | Reality—Leung Mee-ping Installation Art Exhibition | OX Warehouse, Macau |
| 2011 | Made in Hong Kong | Pemalamo Gallery, Taipei, Taiwan |
| 2010 | Miniature Flat G, No 7 | Giormani Home Gallery, Hong Kong |
| 2006 | Room with View | Centre de Reflexion sur I'image et Ses Contexts, Sierre, Switzerland |
| 2004 | In Search of Insomnious Sheep | Tai Mei Tuk Sea Activity Centre, 1a Space, Hong Kong |
| 2004 | Memorize the Future II | Exhibition Hall, Tsuen Wan City Hall, Hong Kong / Western Market, Sheung Wan, Hong Kong |
| 2003 | Hong Kong Contemporary—Water Tone: Leung Mee Ping 1992-2003 | Kaoshsiung Fine Art Museum, Kaoshsiung, Taiwan |
| 2002 | Memorize the Future | Hong Kong City Hall, Hong Kong |
| 2000 | Close at a Distance | Lime Gallery, California Institute of the Arts, USA |
| 1999 | Memorize the Future | Main Gallery, California Institute of the Arts, USA |
| 1998 | A Poem without a Title | Para / Site Art Space, Hong Kong |
| 1995 | Beyond Hong Kong | Hong Kong Museum of Arts, Hong Kong |
| 1994 | Mon-Hair | Gallery Fringe, Hong Kong |
| 1994 | Mixed-media Works by Leung Mee Ping | Heineken Gallery, Hong Kong |
| 1993 | Liens | Galerie Catherine Flectcher, Paris, France |
| 1991 | Graduation Exhibition of Leung Mee Ping | L'Ecole Nationale Superieure des Beaux-Arts a Paris, France |

### Group exhibitions

| Year | Title | Location |
| 2022 | Hong Kong: Here and Beyond | M+, Hong Kong |
| 2021 | Poetic Heritage | Tai Kwun Contemporary, Hong Kong |
| 2021 | New Horizons: Ways of Seeing Hong Kong Art in the 80s and 90s | Hong Kong Museum of Art, Hong Kong |
| 2020 | Hi! Flora, Fauna | Hong Kong Zoological and Botanical Gardens, Hong Kong |
| 2020 | Classics Remix: The Hong Kong Viewpoint | Hong Kong Museum of Art, Hong Kong |
| 2019 | Present Passing: South by Southeast | Osage Gallery, Hong Kong |
| 2018 | Collection of Terry, Debbie and Harry | Tai Kwun Contemporary, Hong Kong |
| 2018 | Land Art Mongolia 5th Biennial 2018 - WHO ARE WE NOW? | Mongolian National Modern Art Gallery, Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia |
| 2018 | Shenzhen Biennale 2018 - Open Source | LuoHu Art Museum, Shenzhen, China |
| 2015 | Shanghai Urban Space Art 2015 Season | West Bund Art Centre, Shanghai, China |
| 2015 | "ArtBat" Public Art Festival | Almaty, Kazakhstan |
| 2015 | Walking in the Dreams | Hong Kong Heritage Museum, Hong Kong |
| 2015 | Urban Exotic Dilemma | Koo Ming Kown Exhibition Gallery, Hong Kong |
| 2015 | Artspiration: About Light | Oil Street Art Space / HKICC, Lee Shau Kee School of Creativity, Hong Kong |
| 2015 | Art Basel － Hong Kong Osage Gallery | Hong Kong Conventional Center, Hong Kong |
| 2014 | Star Pupas | Lower Piazza, Hong Kong Science Museum, Hong Kong |
| 2014 | Delivering Poem | Chifra Art Park, Shuntak, East Coast, Guangdong, China |
| 2014 | Tighttrope Walking Fish | Shenzhen Public Sculpture Exhibition 2014, Shenzhen, China |
| 2014 | All are Guest — Home Coming | Hong Kong Museum of Art, Hong Kong |
| 2014 | FLEX IT! My Body My Temple Project | The Parthenon Museum, USA |
| 2014 | Unseen Presence | Irish Museum of Modern Art, Ireland |
| 2014 | Home | Fangsou Commune, Guangzhou, China |
| 2014 | Art Basel- Hong Kong Osage Gallery | Hong Kong Conventional Center, Hong Kong |
| 2014 | Elsewhere- Hong Kong Osage Gallery | Art Cologne, Germany |
| 2014 | Kanhaiya & Kumari---[en]counters 2014: Is There Love in The Air | Judith Beach, Mumbai, India |
| 2014 | One for One—The Free Marketeers | Hong Kong Cultural Centre, Hong Kong |
| 2014 | Journeys of Leung Ping-kwan' Exhibition (1949–2013) | Hong Kong Central Library, Hong Kong / Huashan 1914 Creative Park, Taiwan |
| 2013 | 10th Busan International Video Art Festival | Openspace Bae, Busan, Korea |
| 2013 | Lost & Found | Z Space, Taichung, Taiwan |
| 2013 | All Are Guests—Hong Kong Week Exhibition | Husashan 1914 Creative Park, Taiwan |
| 2013 | Contemporary Hong Kong Art Biennial Exhibition | Hong Kong Museum of Art, Hong Kong |
| 2013 | Haein Art Project—International Exhibition of Contemporary Art | Sungbo Museum, Haeinsa Temple, South Korea |
| 2013 | Made in India ---[en]counters 2013: powerPLAY | Studio X, Mumbai, India |
| 2012 | Coin Making—Workshop | Free Space Fest, West Kowloon Culture District, Hong Kong |
| 2012 | Of Human Scale: Art and Environment | The Hong Kong Art Centre, Hong Kong |
| 2012 | Philosopher's (knock-off) Stone: Turning Gold into Plastic | Osage Gallery, Hong Kong |
| 2012 | All are Guests - Liverpool Biennial | LJMU Copperas Hill Building, Liverpool, England |
| 2012 | Inwards Gazes—Documentaries of Chinese Performance Art | Museu de Arts de Macau, Macau |
| 2012 | LOUD: Mapping the Aesthetics of Visual Silence | The Visual Festival Fringe, Kassel, Germany |
| 2012 | Market Force | Osage Gallery, Hong Kong |
| 2012 | Mobile M+ YAU MA TEI | M+ (Museum of Visual Culture, WKCD) Hong Kong |
| 2010 | Each Other | Pemalamo Gallery, Taipei, Taiwan |
| 2010 | Videoholica -International Video Art Festival | Varna, Bulgaria |
| 2010 | Prelude | CVA Exhibition Hall, Hong Kong Baptist University, Hong Kong |
| 2010 | Convection | Dafen Museum of Art, Shenzhen, China |
| 2010 | Home Stay | Osage Shanghai Gallery, Shanghai, China |
| 2010 | Art of the World Exposition: The City of Forking Paths | Shanghai Art Expo Main Path, Shanghai, China |
| 2010 | Lending Art Work Project | Shanghai Street Art Space, Hong Kong |
| 2010 | Arrivals and Departures | Urbis, Manchester, UK |
| 2003 | Mapping Asia -- The 18th Asian International Art Exhibition | Hong Kong Heritage Museum, Hong Kong |
| 2003 | Re-appearance of OTsing Fsou Choi? | Learning Centre Galleries, Noh Kong Art Centre, Hong Kong |
| 2003 | OCEM project | West Space, Melbourne, Australia |
| 2003 | Moving On | NUS Museum, National University of Singapore |
| 2003 | Sharjah International Biennial | Sharjah Museum of Art, Sharjah, U .A .E |

## Awards

| Year | Awards |
| 2015 | Hong Kong Best Annual Artist Award Hong Kong art Development Council |
| 2014 | IMMA Fellowship Irish Museum of Modern Art, Ireland |
| 2013 | President's Award for Outstanding Performance in Scholarly Work (Service). HKBU |
| 2012 | Artist Residency Slade School of Fine Art, University College London, Britain |
| 2011 | President's Award for Outstanding Performance in Scholarly Work (Creative / Professional Work) HKBU. |
| 2010 | Outstanding Artists of 2010: Martell –NDmedia Art Salon. Martell Art Foundation in China |
| 2009 | Daily Permanent Public Sculpture, National Museum Southern Branch, Chiayi Prince Boulevard, Taiwan |
| 2008 | Civitella Ranieri Fellowship Civitella Ranieri Foundation, Italy |
| 2007 | Two Sites Permanent Art in Public, Zhang Jiang High Technology Park, Shanghai, China |
| 2004 | Freeman Foundation Fellowship Freeman Foundation, USA |
| 2003 | Starr Foundation Fellowship offered by Asian Cultural Council, USA |
| 2002 | Hong Kong Contemporary Art Biennial Award |

## Notable works
### Elsewhere (1991–2002)

Initiated by a close friend's passing, Leung began collecting tea bags to create Elsewhere in 1991. Elsewhere is mixed media installation consisting of thousands of tea bags sewn together. Made through the repetitive action of sewing teabags, Leung's work is meditative contemplation on being and death. In 1991, Leung won the Premier prix Rocheron Award for this work.

### Memorise the Future (1998–2006)

Memorise the Future (1998-2006), first shown at the Hong Kong Museum of Art, is an installation composed of 3,000 children shoes made of human hair (4 to 5 inches for each). Leung collected the hair from over 10,000 people, encompassing one hundred nations, various demographics, also symbolising disparate and diverse 'memories'. She then mixed, knit and wove the collected hair, blurring geographical boundaries and identities. The shoes themselves also carry meaning, pointing towards the future.

### Out of place (2005–2011)

Out of place (2005-2011) is a series of video installation which feature different places (including Hong Kong, Shenzhen, Taipei, Beijing, Shanghai, Sri Lanka and Macau). Leung followed a number of individuals wondering aimlessly through the streets of varying locales, attempting to discover new psychogeographical routes through the mapping of purposeless.

### I Miss Fanta (2012)

I Miss Fanta was presented as part of Mobile M+: Yau Ma Tei, a series of nomadic pre-opening exhibitions organised by M+. I Miss Fanta consists of three iconic outdoor neon signs of Coca-Cola, Fanta, and Sprite previously installed along Macau's main shopping artery Avenida de Almeida Ribeiro, where they were an integral and memorable part of the urban visual landscape. After Leung discovered that two of the signs, had recently been removed, she found and transplanted the signs in this work, re-lighting the neon in the process. She displayed them on the ground of the park in Yau Ma Tei, echoing how they were found on the platform in the Coca-Cola factory in Macau, and documented the move in videos shown in a nearby junk and recycling shop. Leung transforms all these visual symbols related to personal and collective memory into a sculptural installation, bringing the tension between heritage conservation and urban gentrification to the surface as well.

### Star Pupas (2014)

In 2014, Leung enrolled in Fleeting Light, a large scale media arts exhibition presented by The Hong Kong Arts Development Council. The exhibition was held outside Hong Kong Science Museum during 14 September to 28 September 2014.
For this exhibition, Leung designed a mobile app called Star Pupas where visitors could scan images of stars in the sky, "name" said stars and leave messages for friends. The images and the messages were then projected onto a dome-shaped tent. The more stars that are shared, the more light there will be in the tent. Leung aimed to claim back starlight, which is often obscured by light pollution in urban cities, and also to invite visitors to 'look up' away from their smartphones, not only to the sky but also to the community around them.

### Pearl River Delta Series I: Made in Hong Kong (2014)

Leung Mee Ping's Pearl River Delta Series I: Made in Hong Kong was a mixed-media installation investigating the relationships between cities in the Pearl River Delta—Hong Kong, Shenzhen and Macau. In particular, Leung was curious about the souvenir painting trade, which had recently moved from Hong Kong to Shenzhen. Leung herself went to Dafen to apprentice herself as a trainee to learn about the rapid painting production. She then commissioned a number of paintings of various Hong Kong scenes, which were created sometimes by herself or by other trainees. She signed each of the paintings, no matter who had created them. Leung questions ideas of origin, identity, gaze and ownership in this installation as viewers are invited to look on a set of souvenir paintings depicting mundane, everyday scenes in Hong Kong.