The titles that the Hong Kong-based artist Trevor Yeung b. Often afforded a colloquial β and at times self-depreciating β tone, titles such as All the Chinese boys he collected , We are both loser and Gaslighting βongoing hint towards untold stories and uneasy situations.
He frequently draws on horticulture and botany, and his installations materialise the interrelationship between ecological actors in order to echo complex human relationships. He creates and manipulates spaces to amplify unspoken feelings of social anxiety and embarrassment, confronting the viewer with emotions that they often ignore in daily life.
The gallery spaces are lit by a combination of red and blue light, creating a dark shade of purple that dimly illuminates the space, so only the centrepiece of the exhibition is immediately visible: Soapy Fuck Tree FIG. The seeming spareness of the room and the difficulty to gauge spatial depth induces vulnerability. Here, tissues are plastered to the wall with spray-on deodorant in white splatters, made to appear like body fluids. The suggestive associations can induce discomfort, hinting at sensations that are seldom made visible or addressed in the everyday.
The lighting in the gallery spaces mimics the effects of artificial moonlight in reptile vivariums. Once the visitor has adapted to the surroundings and their vision has adjusted to the limited spectrum of light, Seeds of Fuck Tree FIG. The exhibition will travel to Para Site, Hong Kong, in , and in considering this change of setting, the artist finds an unlikely affinity between the London tree and the Lam Tsuen wishing trees in Hong Kong.
After writing a wish on joss paper that is weighted by an orange, they would throw it towards the branches; according to folklore, if it did not fall down, the wish would come true. In one of the branches eventually broke from the weight it was bearing, and the authorities discouraged the continuation of the practice.
