Artist, Taipei
Kang Ya-Chu, is CHAT’s 2019 Artist-in-Residence. Born and based in Taipei, she has been exploring in her art practices the issues of identity, the relationship between human and nature and the social environment through an extensive range of medium including mixed media sculpture, site-specific installation, land art, video, drawing, photograph, textile research and collaboration. During her time as CHAT’s Artist-in-Residence, she continues her research within the context of Hong Kong, involving the narratives of former textile workers in the city. Kang has also realised an iteration of Dirt Carpet for Hong Kong, an on-going performance intervention inspired by her own research on weaving mechanics and punch cards, incorporating locally found industrial materials such as charcoal, dust and red soil. Having travelled worldwide for residencies, from India and Istanbul to Portugal and the UK, Kang’s works often build upon global weaving histories and reflect themes of boundary and binary opposites through the medium of textile. Her creative process embraces accidents and mutations, working with transient and natural materials to consider themes of sustainable development.