Post-Art Basel, Hong Kong’s art scene continues to dazzle

Michele Chu: You, Trickling

At PHD Group

Despite its officious-sounding name (it’s a joke, of course), Property Holdings Development Group (PHD Group) is a hip young gallery started by Willem Molesworth and Ysabelle Cheung with some exceptional artists in its roster. Among them is Michele Chu, a young Hong Kong artist who has a solo show at the gallery’s secret location. 

Upon entering the space, visitors are instructed to hold a burning incense stick and walk through a fabric passageway a few times before viewing the individual pieces. This simple ritual is Chu’s way of guiding visitors into a liminal space of memory and loss that she has created, separating them from the outside world. The exhibition features a range of works that pay tribute to Chu’s relationship with her ill mother, including a piece made of glass shards displaying images of their body parts, which symbolises the inevitable process of ageing and dying.