Memory as Medium: A Conversation with Dominique Fung
Portrait of Dominique Fung in her studio. Courtesy of the artist and MASSIMODECARLO.
Dominique Fung made her Hong Kong debut during its busiest month for art, with an exhibition at MASSIMODECARLO, marking a key moment in her swift rise from graphic designer to one of the most in-demand artists today. Her recent show carried significant personal meaning, given her ancestral ties in the region. The emotional weight of the occasion was not lost on her—Fung admitted that she was moved to tears when reflecting on her first exhibition in Hong Kong, a moment that underscored the deep connection she feels to both her heritage and the city.
Titled Beneath the Golden Canopy, the exhibition reflects Fung’s exploration of ancestry, storytelling, and the history that has shaped her. The works offer a meditation on memory, family, and the complex narratives that form identity. In many ways, the show captures Fung’s journey—both as an artist and as someone rediscovering the stories that have long influenced her work.
Shreya Ajmani: Could you share how you began conceptualizing the works for this show?
Dominique Fung: It started with Empress Dowager Cixi, but not in the usual biographical way. I wasn’t interested in creating a historical reenactment. I was more drawn to how she’s been remembered, misunderstood, and mythologized. The idea of working with a figure who’s been flattened into extremes—villain, mastermind, seductress—was a way to open up questions about power, femininity, and memory. From there, it became about building a world that could hold all those tensions.
Installation view of Dominique Fung: Beneath the Golden Canopy. Courtesy of the artist and MASSIMODECARLO.
SA: This show and its location hold personal significance for you. How did this influence your process, and did it differ from your usual approach?
DF: Definitely. My family is from Hong Kong, so showing this body of work here feels like a return, but not in a nostalgic way. It’s more like returning with questions that have been building quietly in the background. I didn’t necessarily set out to make the work differently, but I was more attuned to certain references, symbols, and materials that I wouldn’t have leaned into in the same way if this show were elsewhere.
Installation view of Dominique Fung: Beneath the Golden Canopy. Courtesy of the artist and MASSIMODECARLO.
SA: Could you tell us about the new series of 20th-century jewellery boxes?
DF: Jewellery boxes are such interesting objects—they’re meant to hold value, but also to hide it. In the show, I’ve treated them almost like micro-architectures—small monuments to the domestic, the ornamental, the secretive. They speak to the way women’s roles have been shaped over time: polished on the outside, but full of layered, complicated interiors.
SA: The triptych titled The She Dragon, The Fragile Phoenix, and The Limping Dragon is striking. What aspect of your practice does this work reflect?
DF: Visually, it plays with contrasts—color versus grayscale, movement versus stillness. But structurally, it’s also a conversation between characters: Empress Dowager Cixi as The She Dragon, full of fire and fluidity; Empress Ci’an as The Fragile Phoenix, poised but powerful; and Emperor Xianfeng, as The Limping Dragon, diminished and fading into the periphery. This work also introduces a new technique for me: a two-tone shift that presents different viewpoints within a single composition. The shifts in saturation reflect the way power, memory, and myth occupy space differently. The structure also draws from traditional Chinese scroll formats, where narratives unfold horizontally, across time and space.
Installation view of Dominique Fung: Beneath the Golden Canopy. Courtesy of the artist and MASSIMODECARLO.
SA: Finally, what are your plans for 2025?
DF: I’m filming. I don’t totally know what I’m making yet. It might become a short film, maybe something more abstract. I want it to feel like a natural extension of my painting and sculpture practice.
Dominique Fung: Beneath the Golden Canopy is on view at MASSIMODECARLO from March 24th to May 16th, 2025.
Edited by Xuezhu Jenny Wang
