This exhibition starts by looking at our inner desires that are often suppressed and dictated by social constructs and commercial influences through the lens of a clown. In the silent video “Spa,” a clown’s nose is being gently cleansed and massaged. The tranquil, almost death-like, stillness ends suddenly with a sneeze. In a site-specific staging involving videos and kinetic installations, Magdalen Wong looks at how clowns were recognized under numerous disguises and masks, from a witch doctor to an equestrian, and from a harlequin to a haunting character. The clown is like a storyteller who could be seen as a romantic hero for the sick, the disparaged, and the marginalized; or when under a different painted face, a clown can also be illustrated as a stubborn critic of social delusions and illusions, and at times poses as an unwieldy refugee left behind by change and progress.

Gallery address: 3F, Remex Centre, 42 Wong Chuk Hang Road