Cheng(Christine) Dong

Exposed cyanotype prints featuring twisted clay letters

I am a storyteller, visual communicator and printmaker born in China and now based in the UK.

My early academic pursuits centred around language, literature and plays, which instilled in me a keen awareness of and emphasis on the poetic. Then I became seriously interested in visual expression to push the boundaries of linguistic code and to introduce new narratives.

In 2022, I embarked upon this MA programme, where my practice is more based on rational and tangible knowledge research, expanding through visual poetry.

Our understanding and interpretation of the world is inherently limited by our physical existence. That is why there is room for fictional stories in a world with overabundant knowledge.

I am in awe of the rigorous rational world where deductive methods and expressive systems prevail but also fascinated with self-evidence and intuition derived from what Blaise Pascal referred to as the "light of nature."

Hence, I rely on fictional narratives to reflect the rigorous essence of the questions I raise. I believe any queries out of reach can be connected to through a fictional context where I see a conversation established in silence.

My topics surround understanding and transcending what we are accustomed to, while my artistic practice always seeks a delicate balance between poetry and rigour. I tend to reflect upon broader inquiries of perception, rationality, and humanism through printmaking, drawing, writing and materiality.

In my recent project, I map the interplay between human language, perception, and life through the lens of mathematical concepts.

(En)cipher

As Geoffrey Willans stated, "You can never understand one language until you understand at least two."

The essence of "something" is difficult to reach; it only becomes faintly discernible within an intertwinement between subjects, which enables us to catch glimpses of deeper meanings and understanding.

I consider mathematics as "another language". In this project, I conducted three encryption experiments on English writing using mathematical approaches to explore hidden patterns within this man-made creation by deliberately rendering familiarity as unfamiliar.

Letter No.1, enciphered with function rules

A set of "automatic" language-constructing tools

Medium:

Letterpress on paper

Size:

297mm×420mm

“Writing” can be measured. When letters are converted into geometric shapes of equal area, the encrypted content transforms into an underdetermined equation with numerous solutions.

Letter No.2, enciphered into circles.

A system of equations for deciphering

Medium:

Risograph prints

Size:

297mm×420mm

graphic-design risograph

Letter No.3, enciphered through the irreversible transformation of letters in their forms, combinations, permutations, and across different dimensions.

Medium:

Clay, Cyanotype on paper and fabric

Size:

Variable

clay cyanotypes language mathematics

Variable

"Variable" constructed a fictional context and archive for encryption experiments where I witnessed a silent conversation with life unfold as I made calculations to encrypt and wrote using language.

When positioned in a dependent relationship, like variables, the intangible essence of mathematics, language, and life can be instantly captured by assigning values to one another.