Katinka Huang (b. 1998, Shanghai, China) examines the tension between Western ideals of gender propriety and Eastern perspectives on femininity. Her abrupt move to England from China and subsequent experiences at an all-girls school prompted her to explore the complexities of identity and womanhood. Elements of the female form are deconstructed and juxtaposed to create subversive, satirical, and often absurd narratives around womanhood. These accounts are rooted in moments of dissociation, where Katinka departs from reality and enters a space of play.

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On the canvas, Katinka liberates the female identity to embody crudeness, childlike innocence, fury, and profound sadness—their bodies undergo a metamorphosis by fragmenting, dissolving, or emerging anew. Katinka’s dissociative bouts are a temporary escape from the cultural ideologies of womanhood, enabling her to reimagine femininity in all its contradictions.

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