London museum and library the Wellcome Collection, explores the intersection of science, medicine and art, hosting regular temporary exhibitions. “Milk” (2023) examined the history, politics and cultural role of the life-giving liquid, while “The Cult of Beauty” (2023-24) explored changing notions of pulchritude and the lengths people go to in their pursuit of it. Hong Kong contemporary artist Ling Pui-sze, whose work features abstract depictions of organic forms, explains how recent insights promoted by visits to the Wellcome Collection have changed her life.
I first went to the Wellcome Collection in July or August last year. There was a term break (from an artist-in-residence programme at Robinson College, Cambridge University), so I had time to travel around. It was my first time in London.
I had heard about the Wellcome Collection and planned to visit. In Hong Kong, there are not many collaborative art and science projects; I heard the Wellcome Collection had art-science exhibitions, so I was looking forward to it, but it was more than I expected. The first time I went the museum was closed; only the library was open.
It houses a lot of works related to science and the reading areas are really nice. But I needed to go a second time and the first show I visited was “Milk”. I didn’t know what kind of artworks they would find that talked about milk; I thought it might only be some paintings or sculptures about the subject, but there were illustrations, designs, videos.
I didn’t know much about the topic, but there are so many perspectives on it: why is milk so important? Why do humans drink so much milk at certain times? There were a lot of videos about how milk became so important in human life and also how it’s promoted during wartime: that it’ll make you stronger so you can join the army and save your country. In the video that I liked most, they asked a few women how they thought about human breast milk and they reflected on breastfeeding and the passing down of maternal knowledge. I had the chance to visit a second time for “The Cult of Beauty”, which was about how beauty has been seen in men and women up to today, and the different treatments and surgeries available to change the human body.
Some of the photos were too strong for me – I’m afraid of blood – but it was very impressive. It was beyond my expectations; it was not only about art, but also about the cultures of different places and times. I look forward to collaborating with scientists and I would like to work with the Wellcome Collection.
My works are always inspired by nature, but related to society and culture. Collecting data from scientists, I couldn’t imagine how to translate that into art. The museum widened my horizons.
In the old days, I used only microscopic images to create 3D artworks, but after seeing this kind of exhibition I realised that there are more possibilities and more directions from which to approach the subject..
