Movana Chen

Movana Chen (b.1974) is an artist based in Hong Kong and Lisbon. Her multidisciplinary practice is rooted in the exploration of communication across cultures, deconstructing and reconstructing dictionaries, maps and paper forms to create sculptural installations and wearable works that represent new forms of language. Her work is a fusion of media, performance, installation and sculpture.

Her work has been shown at Factory of Tomorrow, CHAT 5th anniversary exhibition, Hong Kong (2024), The Open World, the third edition of Thailand Biennale, Chiang Rai (2023 - 2024); Knitting Conversations, Focus Gallery, M+, Hong Kong (2024) and Body Container: Questioning the Line, Asia Art Archive, Hong Kong (2024).

Chen studied Fashion Design at the London College of Fashion, UK, and Fine Art at the Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology (RMIT) in Hong Kong.

Credit:Movana Chen, courtesy of Flowers Gallery


Chen began her practice by forming dresses from her collection of fashion magazines dating back to 1997. Twenty-four of her pieces have been further recontextualized to form the monumental installation Dreconstructing (2004 - 2008).The outlines of the human form remain visible in seams and circular apertures, now joined into a larger communal body. Rendered illegible through the process, scripts from multiple languages, Chinese, Japanese, English, and Korean, remain visible, reflecting Chen's intention to foster connections across borders. along the journey through a lens, to bring the body container to life in an invisible lines that unite people without boundaries. More importantly, it highlights how humanity must no further delay in protecting our shared home: Earth.
Questioning the line (2023-ongoing), Movana Chen created a wearable double-container, knitted from maps she collected from friends all over the world. This new work begins with the concept of social distancing, symbolizing human separation and the silence of our world. These surreal experiences inspired Chen to explore the relationship between human and nature. Recently in a collaboration project in 2023, Chen and a dancer subvert human divisions through performance. Inside Chen’s interconnected Body Container, they improvised a non-verbal stillness dialogues with nature. The performance were captured on a series of films along the journey through a lens, to bring the body container to life in an invisible lines that unite people without boundaries. More importantly, it highlights how humanity must no further delay in protecting our shared home: Earth.
Photo source of the works: Provided by the artist
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