Why Jewellery? 2

Artist list

Au-Yeung Chun, Vivien Bedwell, Milly Bell, Tiffany Chang Ting, Cicy Ching Sze Yin, Adrian Chung Ka Pang, Zoe Chung Po Chui, Andrew Gall, Trudie Gardiner, Chloe Healey, Shirley Hung Sheung Yee, Minna Jun, Charlotte Kippax, Catherine Large, Kaka Li Wing Ka, SF Lui Siu Fung, Marco Ma Ho Ching, Man Kwan Yee, Jessica McMaster, Helen Moriarty, Kara Ngai Yan Chi, Avena Osborn, Joey Pang Chung Yi, Sean Prentis, Elizabeth Shaw, Melissa Stannard, TAM Tak Hei, Tang Mung Sze, Mia Wells, Wong Ka Hei, Benny Yeung Long Hei

The exhibition Why Jewellery opened first in Hong Kong at HKBU in the Koo Ming Kown Exhibition Gallery in May 2015. It featured selected works from our current BFA students and recent graduates (up to three years out). Cicy and Elizabeth also exhibited current research from their own practices. The people invited to exhibit have been asked to respond to the question Why Jewellery? Meaning, why do you make it? Why is it the focus of your arts practice? Humans have long adorned themselves with jewellery, even before written record. During this long history, jewellery has come to represent specific meanings, functions, and to be associated with certain values. We use jewellery to cultivate good luck, avoid disasters, establish identity, build comradeship, show off wealth, display power, express love, memory and other feelings, and also to proclaim our or a society’s social and aesthetic values. Of course jewellery can also be considered a pure fashion statement which is a proclamation in itself.

The development of jewellery differs amongst different eras, regions, cultures, geographic environments and technology progressions. There is always a common thread though, and that is to suit the needs of the time, the community, and the individual. Through the interaction of wearer, surroundings, and jewellery pieces, we learn how to express ourselves through adornment. Contemporary jewellery artists take this dialog a step forward. They often use jewellery as the medium for discussing issues that they care about, or use traditional values associated with jewellery for articulating their personal views and opinions.