LAND OF KINGS

Welcome to the “Land of Kings,”  an exhibition that delves into the intricate tapestry of British Chinese identity(life) and the 1personas we construct to navigate the world around us.

The word for ‘King’ in Chinese is written as ‘王’ using 4 strokes, representing Heaven, Man and Earth, with the King unifying all three.  The symbols and references are used as a framework to explore a strand of British Chinese life in the UK.  To assimilate into the new world, the personas are moulded to reflect our perceived roles, beliefs and values, shaped by the society around us, here on Earth.  As we traverse through life, seeking answers to these existential inquiries, our personas evolve and solidify.  Yet, this evolution often comes at a cost, a gradual repression of aspects of ourselves deemed incongruent with our chosen facade.  Slowly, we relinquish parts of our authentic selves until the lines between the persona and reality blur, the King usurps our true essence.  The King is the facade that reflects the ideal, covered and adorned.  The King controls and that control breeds darkness, repressed into the shadow, pressed hard into the earth, denying it, refusing to acknowledge it.

We look to the heavens to the gods, all-seeing and all-knowing and powerful sitting above man and earth, god creates personas and destroys them. God gives life and takes life away. God is jealous and insists you recognise no god but him. The god archetype is the aspect of the self that keeps the true self hidden, and secret, it shapes and controls all reality to keep the true self ignorant, but this god is false, an impudent creator can only make a facsimile of life and not life itself, god is a true part of the forgotten self.

1The Persona: The social mask or facade that individuals present to the outside world, often reflecting societal expectations and norms.