HONG KONG.- Take Turns by Hong Kong artist Wing Po So is a newly commissioned exhibition at Para Site that examines the shifting dynamics among nature, the body, and materiality using Chinese medicine drawers as vessels. Growing up in a family-run Chinese medicine shop, So was immersed in the world of materia medica, and this upbringing has deeply influenced her artistic practice. Central to the exhibition are salvaged drawers from now-defunct traditional Chinese pharmacies in Hong Kong, reimagined as sites of transformative healing. The drawers’ worn surfaces bear witness to cycles of preservation, decay, and regeneration. Recast to hold the artist’s works, they prompt reflections on material change while highlighting the interconnectedness of living beings, geology, and human-made objects.
The exhibition presents works across three “islands” within Para Site’s tenth-floor space, anchored by a central wooden structure inspired by generative systems. The immersive installation integrates Chinese herbs, rocks, kinetic sculptures, 3D-printed objects, sonic rhythms and more, creating an ecosystem where the boundaries between the organic and inorganic, animate and inanimate, dissolve. Take Turns is curated by Yuanyu Li.
Wing Po So (b.1985, Hong Kong; lives and works in Hong Kong) draws heavily on her upbringing and knowledge of traditional Chinese herbal medicine to create conceptually driven artworks. So’s work synthesises the disparate fields of international contemporary art and traditional Chinese medicine, locating a shared concern for the natural environment.
She has participated in various art institutions, biennials, and triennials. So’s recent major projects include: solo exhibition Six-part Practice at Tai Kwun Contemporary in Hong Kong in 2018; 2023 Shanghai Biennale; 2023 Taipei Biennale; 2024 Asian Contemporary Sculpture Exhibition at Taipei Ju Ming Museum; 2024 Shanghai Jing’an International Sculpture Exhibition; 2023 First Trans-Southeast Asia Triennial; 2023 Hyundai Blue Prize Art+Tech exhibition; the 2023 X Museum Triennial; 2022 Kathmandu Triennale; and solo exhibition From the Body to the Body Through the Body at de Sarthe, Hong Kong in 2019.
Other projects include Fragrance of Time at the Hong Kong Museum of Art, a commissioned work for The Henderson Arts, a group exhibition at Para Site in Hong Kong, and Shanghai Pearl Museum. Her recent work was covered by ArtAsiaPacific, The Art Newspaper, and ArtPress. In 2018, she published an artist book titled From Space to Space; in 2021, a photography book titled Invisible Island; and in 2021, she published a visual essay “The Making of Voids” in the Garage Journal. So is currently the Executive Director of the non-profit community organisation, FabLab Hong Kong.
