Oscar Chan Yik Long:
My Body Is a Reincarnated Population
30 MAY 2024 - 02 JUNE 2024
Book launch & exhibition
In his debut artist’s book My Body Is a Reincarnated Population (pub. Bored Wolves), Helsinki-based Hong Kong artist Oscar CHAN Yik Long embraces the pantheon of reincarnated souls embedded within him through ink-and-wash paintings and distilled capsule texts. His process was guided by the rolls of a die used to connect individuals he has known and encountered in past lives—parents and siblings, relatives and ancestors, friends and enemies, lovers—to his present-life body. Who formed his throat? Who grew into his tongue? Who paired as lungs? Who became skin, muscle, bone, or blood?
Oscar’s efforts were ultimately about a form of spiritual atonement in pursuit of physiological harmony for a body facing numerous afflictions: “Through my artwork, I wanted to let the people within me know that, regardless of the tragedies or conflicts that divided us in the past, I have come to terms with everything that happened between us. I sincerely apologize, I express gratitude, I forgive and send love.”
Oscar CHAN Yik Long (Hong Kong, 1988, lives in Helsinki) studied at the Academy of Visual Arts of Hong Kong Baptist University. His practice explores the outer and inner conditions of life: how individuals understand themselves and others, fear and horror, ancient mythologies and popular visual culture. He works with media such as painting and drawing, frequently as part of site-specific installations, and also produces three-dimensional objects.