Margaret Liang
About
(b.1998, China) Liang derives her voice from lived experiences, attending to matters of identity, intersectional feminism, and gender. The conflicts and absurdities within her identity from being in-between nations produce a self-image that remains everlastingly in flux.
Working primarily in the medium of self-portraits, she reflects upon the making of her, seeing the body as an archive of ideas and words, care and violence. This meditative approach allows her to make peace with herself as well as discover new territories in photographic representation.
Upcoming:
Just Women, Image Nation Paris, Paris, FR, 2023
Bodily Autonomies, University of Heidelberg, 2023
Bloomberg New Contemporaries, South London Gallery, London, UK, 2024
Others:
Der Greif, Guest room: Annekathrin Kohout, 2023
I Spoke to Them, Safehouse, London, UK, 2021
Statement
“Mountain of A” ponders with curiosity about body image, self-representation, gender; and subverts limitations of traditional representations of femininity and masculinity as binaries. My experience of bodybuilding allowed me to envision a space for my body outside of the rigid gender norms and cultural stereotypes. I attempt to create a similar space with photography: where I and my subjects are free to explore ways in which we’d like to be represented.
The series began with a self-portrait where I stood erect with weights. The image captivated me, and felt like an illusion: up to that point, I had been conditioned to perceive myself as merely feminine. I therefore began to recall times where I had been at odds with societal expectations of my body, skewing such expectations through the lens; at the same time inviting others to interact with me for the camera, creating moments of strength and tenderness, where our bodies empower, celebrate, challenge, contemplate.
Through the process, I bring forth an inquiry about bodily and gender expressions, question the notion of masculinity being equal to maleness, and propose a body image that is soft and focused, but also strong and fluid.
Mountain of A: Pt. I
Medium: Large format analogue photography, giclee prints
Size: various sizes
Pt. II
A Body Pieced Back Together
A body pieced back together, it resembles the human form and humanity, but also transcends the communal burdens they hold.
In the beginning of 2023, I became so sick to the point that I could barely leave the house. I lost loads of weight: body fat, water, and my hard-earned muscles. As the weight left my body I had an urge to make reparations, but I couldn't stomach much food either. Around the same time, I found out that many of my clothes would no longer fit me, so I decided to up-cycle them with some dyeing and sewing. I bought a sewing machine, and my mind was quickly filled with the idea of constructing a sculptural body with these undesired matters.
Medium: discarded cloth, avocados, cotton, wool, nylon
Size: Human-sized
Pt. III
Medium: moving image, sound