Born: 1998, China
Profession: Artist
Lives and works: London, United Kingdom
The Oriental Scene investigates the concept of Chinoiserie architecture in the UK in the context of de-colonialism. The project uses a replica of the Porcelain Tower of Nanjing in Kew Gardens as the main object of investigation, incorporating objects, drawings, and documents to explore how the pagoda has been represented across various mediums.
In the 17th and 18th centuries, during a wave of Chinoiserie in Europe, Sir William Chambers built a replica of the Porcelain Tower at Kew in 1762. The original tower was destroyed by the Taiping army in 1856, and no photographic documentation of it survives. Subtle differences exist between Eastern and Western depictions of the tower—for example, the number of storeys, which varies between nine and ten in European sources. According to Chinese Han Buddhist tradition, pagodas typically have an odd number of storeys; thus, the original Nanjing Tower had nine. The fact that the Kew Pagoda has ten raises questions about misrepresentation, pointing to a complex interplay between reality and fiction.
Prompted by this “wrong number of storeys,” the project explores the appropriation, decontextualisation, and reassignment of meaning to Oriental symbols across time and space. It interrogates Orientalism and the construction of visual narratives, reconsidering how pagodas have been used to create images of the East and portray cultural otherness. Through the juxtaposition of historical and contemporary artistic works and documents, the project examines visual cultural transference and the shifting meanings of the pagoda. Photography is used to re-present these images in a contemporary context, engaging with the debate on cultural ownership and exposing the colonial histories embedded in Western representations of the Orient.
