Central, Hong Kong
Cian Dayrit
A Country, A Body
Cheng-Lan's CornerThe inaugural exhibition, Cian Dayrit: A Country, A Body, marks the Filipino artist's first solo show in Hong Kong. Dayrit's practice is at its core community focused, and opens the conversation between Cheng-Lan's Corner and Hong Kong's public through the exploration of themes of land, power and identity that resonate deeply with the city's own history. One of the most incisive voices of his generation, Manila-based artist Cian Dayrit takes the Philippines as a lens to examine the systematic control entrenched in our built environment. This presentation brings together a focused selection of recent works that fuses anthropology and speculative storytelling to examine the legacies of colonialism, land extraction and the transfer of power through textiles, paintings, drawings, and sculpture. Drawing on archival research and collaborations with rural and Indigenous communities, his works incorporate historical maps, military iconography, botanical imagery, and vernacular materials to explore histories of displacement, labour, and resistance. In a series of embroidered textile works, Dayrit maps infrastructure projects—roads, bridges, and dams—onto photographic collages, revealing how development often results in the dispossession of ancestral lands. Sculptural assemblages the artist refers to as "shrines" incorporate objects belonging to his family, carrying intergenerational narratives shaped by migration and labour. A group of drawings, originally conceived as manuals for locally rooted farming practices, appears here as a counterpoint to histories of extraction and environmental transformation. Cian Dayrit's work has been exhibited internationally in major biennales including: Sidney Biennial, Ulaanbaatur Biennale, Gwangju Biennale, Berlin Biennale, Bangkok Biennale, Kathmandu Triennale, New Museum Triennial, and Göteborg Biennial. He was an artist in residence at Gasworks, London (2019). Dayrit has also participated in exhibitions at institutions internationally, including: Barbican Art Centre, London (UK); Stedelijk Museum, Amsterdam (Netherlands); Sainsbury Art Centre, Norwich (UK); San Jose Museum of Art, San Jose (USA); Kunstverein Hamburg (Germany); Blaffer Art Museum, Houston (USA); Museo Reina Sofía, Madrid (Spain); Talbot Rice Gallery, Edinburgh (UK); Para Site, Hong Kong (Hong Kong); SAVVY Contemporary, Berlin (Germany); the Metropolitan Museum of Manila (Philippines) and Hammer Museum, LA (USA).