In “The Black Series: Night Swims” (2017-18), Corn Shuk Mei Ho presents a body of work influenced by late night swimming. The concept emerged during a visit to Lantau Island, Hong Kong where, swimming far off shore one evening, she observed the many-layered darkness of the sky and the sea at night unspoiled by artificial lights. The endless darkness with its subtly differing shades of blackness provided the initial inspiration for the series. The characters in the paintings are depicted as though they are nocturnal creatures, their postures invoking feelings of isolation, solitude, uncertainty and fear. Their emotions are mirrored by the reflections cast on the surface of the dark waters, drawing a line of correlation between water as a physical element and as a symbol for the depths of the human psyche.

Corn Shuk Mei Ho graduated with an MFA from Wimbledon College of Arts in 2016, and has a BA in Fine Arts from the Chinese University of Hong Kong in 2010. She lives and works in London. Since graduating she has shown her work in both solo and group exhibitions in the UK and Hong Kong, and her work resides in several private collections.

Corn sets out to explore the deepest levels of the human subconscious. The atmospheric, melancholic tones of her drawings and paintings evoke sensations of dislocation. These works document her interest in what is lost and what is found, the ambivalence between what is fleeting memory and what is synthesized as trace within landscape.

Corn will be have solo exhibitions at the Jam Factory Gallery, Oxford and Building BloQs, London, in early June and August respectively. Her work “Night Swim Series, Mirror: Crystal” has been selected by Visual Art Open 2018 and will be exhibited in Chester Cathedral and Chester Arts Fair 2018.