This pair of ‘operatic costumes' serves as an artistic signifier of Chinese opera. Modelled on the forms and patterns of the costumes of Cantonese opera, artist MAN Fung-yi weaves together criss-crossing, silver-coloured wires to imply the uniqueness and significance of Chinese opera, or Xiqu, as a part of humanity's intangible cultural heritage. Not only reminding people of the issues surrounding the preservation of Chinese opera in Hong Kong, the work also sets out to satisfy the artist's personal obsession with operatic costumes from different regions in China, especially those of Cantonese opera, which always bring to her mind memories of outdoor bamboo theatres and ritual performances. Interweaving her childhood growing up with her grandmother and her research into historical Chinese costumes and garments, the artist blends both softness and lightness in the work, which reflects her inherent sensitivity in exploring and manipulating objects, feelings and textures. As a female artist, she also challenges the traditionally muscular art form of heavy metal sculpture. Sensuously, the artist reveals her artistic aspiration to explore the relationship between the delicacy of weaving and the uniqueness of this operatic form of intangible cultural heritage through sculptural means.

MAN Fung-yi is a graduate of the Department of Fine Arts at Chinese University of Hong Kong. In 1995, she established CHIC Studio (Artists' House) with MOK Yat-san, and devoted herself to art creation and art education after her graduation. In 1999, she obtained her Master of Fine Arts degree at the CUHK. In 2008, she obtained her master of Art (Daoism) in Department of Cultural and Religious Studies at the CUHK. She was awarded the Hong Kong Women of Excellence in the Six Arts Award (2013), the award of Hong Kong Art Biennial Exhibition (2003), the Critic Award of "Century．Women Art Exhibition" in Beijing, China (1998) and the Freeman Foundation Fellowship for Asian Artists in U.S.A. (1997).