In a world of constant destruction and reconstruction, Reborn from the Ashes embodies the quest for resilience and healing in the face of adversity. Born of an intimate exploration of the artist’s personal experience, this solo exhibition, weaving together visual art, poetry, and sound, invites deep reflection on transformation and renewal in the face of destruction.
At the heart of this presentation is a video installation showing books rising from the ashes, accompanied by sculptures and a poem, The Last Words of a Burnt Book. This work symbolizes the power of art to transcend censorship and oblivion, underlining the durability of ideas and knowledge despite attempts to suppress them throughout history.
In a dialogue between rupture and repair, the exhibition also explores the theme of healing. Inspired by the art of kintsugi, which celebrates the beauty of imperfections, a centerpiece reveals how cracks in a ceramic vase can be transformed into lines of gold, a metaphor for our ability to find strength and beauty in our vulnerabilities.
Reborn from the Ashes examines identity and the challenges of diaspora, in particular through The Burden, an installation that questions migration, memories, and the burdens of heritage. The work encourages us to reflect on what we take with us and what we leave behind in life’s movements. This exhibition is an invitation to contemplate how, in the face of adversity, destruction can lead to renewed creation, and how each ordeal can open the way to a new form of healing and beauty.
Ricko Leung
This installation synthesizes two sources of inspiration: firstly, when China’s first emperor ordered the burning of history and philosophy books in 213 BC, and secondly Marta Minujín’s impressive art installation The Parthenon of Books at Documenta 14. Although these two events appear to be more than two thousand years apart, they highlight the continuity of censorship of books throughout human history, because of the ability of books to spread ideas and bring about change, which is often perceived as a threat by the existing authorities.
The artist wrote the poem The Last Words of a Burnt Book from a first-person perspective of the burnt books.
The Last Words of a Burnt Book
Never expected to see such bright sparkles at the end of my life. And it’s much more painful than ever.
The heat is rising up all the way to my mind. I’m being burnt, and my pages are on fire.
My pages are on fire while the words in my vein are freed from desire. And it’s much more painful than ever.
My anger is washing down all the way over my soul. I want to scream to free myself from any control.
But I am forced to remain silent without a mouth.
The crackling sound around me seems to go on eternally, Louder than any screams ever been shouted.
Words on me become blurred as I am soaked in tears internally.
I am being burnt because of your fear.
You are being drown by the fear of my words and my ideas.
You can burn my gorgeous cover,
But you cannot stop my spirit from passing on to the others.
Is the identity of the Hong Kong diaspora becoming a burden? In the context of an increasingly turbulent world, several generations of Hong Kongers have fallen into the void between the colonial era and ideological and cultural conflicts. Not only are they forced to confront the question of their own identity—especially as they integrate with other cultures—but they are also pushed by the wheel of history to act upon it. It seems that the history of migration is closely linked to the destiny of a population. What does it mean to migrate? What do people take with them when they migrate? Memories, hope, goals, or a burden? The Burden is an installation that explores these questions around an emerging diaspora.
On the bag is an archive image of Queen’s Pier in Hong Kong, named in honor of Queen Victoria, was a public wharf and was completely demolished in February 2008 by the government. This cyanotype image has been cut out and woven onto the bag – this process of deconstruction and reconstruction is very interesting to the artist.
This type of bag, with its particular colors and patterns, was commonly used by Hong Kongers, particularly the artist’s parents’ generation, to travel or visit relatives back in China. It has become an iconic and nostalgic object of Hong Kong culture.
‘I shed my wounded skin to be reborn into the original me.’
What is healing? How do we heal ourselves? What if we could simply shed our wounds like other living organisms shed their old skin?
Healing is one of the central questions in the artist’s artistic practice. She experimented with weaving natural materials, such as untreated cotton and raffia, and combining them with ceramics, forming a link between material and text.
Ricko Leung
Lives and works in Paris and Bourges, France
Born and raised in Hong Kong and based in France, Ricko Leung draws on her multicultural identity and daily observations to create works that explore the complexity of the human experience through visual and sculptural language.
Her work explores the relationship between individual experiences and wider social, political, and natural contexts. Focusing on issues such as the interplay of fear and control, cultural identity, post-colonialism, trauma and healing, feminism as well as our relationship with nature.
She uses a variety of media including sculpture, installation, photography, text, video, and performance to provoke dialogues around the crucial questions facing our society.
Education
2023 – 2024 BFA, École Nationale Supérieure d’Art de Bourges, France
2014 – 2016 Master in Arts and Cultural Management (Art Market and Exhibition Management), IESA, Paris, France
Solo exhibitions
2024 Reborn from the Ashes, Galerie j /, Paris, France 2023 L’AiR Arts, Atelier 11, Paris, France
2023 The Burden, La Générale, Paris, France
Group exhibitions
2024
A Glance from the Bridge, JPS Gallery, Hong Kong (June) JPS Gallery Art Central Group Show, Hong Kong
Voix Portées, Maison de la Culture de Bourges [Bourges Cultural Centre],France 2023
HOME, JPS Gallery et The Alter Space, London, United Kingdom Hola Barna Part 1, JPS Gallery, Barcelona, Spain
Artist residencies
2023
L’AiR Arts, Atelier 11, Paris: research on the complex relationship between personal experiences and wider social, political, and natural environments
(http://www.lairarts.com/ricko-leung.html)
La Générale, Paris: research on cultural identity and post-colonialism (https://www.lagenerale.fr/fr/projet/the-burden)
Curatorial projects
2023
Between Plant and Thread, Blue and Purple, Durjoy Bangladesh Foundation, Asia NOW 2023 Special Projects, Paris, France
2022
Commission Series x Dominique White : (Under) studies in Non-Description, DEO Project, Chios, Greece
Deux plus deux font quatre, Hong Kong Film Festival in Paris, L’Épée de Bois, Paris, France
2019
Eau et Cendres pour une (R)Évolution Créatrice, DOC!, Paris (Exhibition of 16 Hong Kong and international artists)
