Claudia Cheng on Curating Women’s Narratives
Claudia ChengCurating Women's Narratives
Independent curator and art advisor based between London and Hong Kong, bringing female artists' stories to the forefront of a historically male-dominated industry.
Independent Curator & Art Advisor
Claudia Cheng is an independent art advisor and curator based between London and Hong Kong. She began her art career at Christie's and received her Bachelor of Arts degree from Stanford University. She currently serves as a young patron of The Serpentine Galleries' Future Contemporaries.
She has curated exhibitions for galleries internationally and collaborates with Artsy to curate online exhibitions and auctions. Her published artist interviews and curated exhibitions are focused on women, bringing female artists' narratives forward in a historically male-dominated field.
Her exhibitions include The Earth has music for those who listen at Sapling Gallery, Through the Prism at Gillian Jason Gallery, and Window to Her Soul, as well as a benefit auction for Artsy. From celebrating mixed heritages and dimensional identities to honouring our spiritual connection with nature and the cosmos, each exhibition presents a different perspective from which we may learn, grow, and appreciate life.
"The arresting heroines who inhabit these works unequivocally express their own narratives, but they also serve as a prism through which viewers may reflect on the artists' practice in relation to their own multifaceted experience."
Claudia Cheng Read the full exhibition text at Art PluggedTell us about your greatest inspirations and influences.
I am inspired by many forms of art: from painting and architecture, to music and literature. I feel very lucky to live in London, where I can immerse myself in its brilliant cultural scene any day of the week. I am constantly inspired by the gallery and museum exhibitions, jazz shows, and artist studio visits that I attend weekly.
Interviewing and conversing with the incredible women artists around me about their practices and the unique ways in which they see the world is extremely inspiring. I learn so much about the art market, socio-political discourse, and the broader human experience through the work of contemporary artists.
I also love to read. A few books that have deeply inspired me are The Art of Living by Thich Nhat Hanh, Braiding Sweetgrass by Robin Wall Kimmerer, The Power of Now by Eckhart Tolle, Ninth Street Women by Mary Gabriel, and The Story of Art Without Men by Katy Hessel.
Tell us a bit about your creative process.
It is a continuous process of growth and discovery. I spend a lot of time reading, visiting artist studios, galleries, and museum exhibitions. Every exhibition is a window to a new perspective. Each conversation adds a thread to the constellation of connections that weave together life's fabric.
Through seeing shows, reading, and having conversations with friends in the industry, I am constantly learning and developing my realm of knowledge. My curatorial practice reflects this continuous journey of expansion.
How did the pandemic affect your creativity and how do you see the world changing?
The pandemic drove the art industry online, which has had a positive effect in increasing transparency, fostering sustainability, and bringing people in different geographic locations closer together. I think this change has encouraged us all to think outside the box, be more open to collaborations, and make art more accessible to global audiences.
Museums, galleries, auction houses, and art fairs have all adapted for the growing digital community by creating online viewing rooms and virtual programming. Collectors too are going digital, with 37% preferring to purchase art online rather than in person from dealers, up 8% from 2020 according to the Art Basel and UBS Survey of Global Collecting in 2022. This digital transformation has widened the geographical scope of the art world, encouraging cross-cultural communication and understanding, as well as increasing diversity in creativity and taste.
What does wellbeing mean to you, and what do you practice?
Wellbeing is the state in which my mind, body, and soul are in harmony and at peace. In The Power of Now, Eckhart Tolle writes: "Acknowledging the good that you already have in your life is the foundation for all abundance. You are not in the universe, you are the universe, an intrinsic part of it." I believe that practising gratitude and living in the present moment are the most important factors in attaining happiness and wellbeing.
Sometimes I can be moved to tears just by hearing a beautiful crescendo of trumpets in a song, or appreciating the way sunlight coats the edges of a leaf or shimmers across the ocean. I think it is because in those moments I am fully living in the present and become completely lost in the beauty of being.
Stay curious,
