The chameleonic Ming Wong impersonates the heroes of the global cinematic canon in his witty and irreverent video works.
The chameleonic Ming Wong impersonates the heroes of the global cinematic canon in his witty and irreverent video works.
Through his signature method of what he calls “impostoring”, Wong explores the many facets of identity, performing roles from celebrated films that conspicuously do not correspond to his designation as an Asian man. In works such as Me in Me (2013), Wong explores the familiar tropes of Japanese cinema, embracing and even exaggerating misalignments in gender, language and ethnicity to tell the stories of three Japanese women from different eras.
Accompanying the trailers is documentary footage of the artist’s process in becoming these characters.
What is highlighted is the dissonances in becoming, as Wong’s gender miscasting, fumbled attempts at physical compensation and speech errors encourage viewers to interrogate how identities and stereotypes are created and enforced. At the 53rd Venice Biennale in 2009, Wong became the first Singaporean artist to be awarded a Special Mention for his work Life of Imitation at the Singapore Pavilion.
previous article
next article
