IVY MA

Cultivating an aesthetic characterized by quietness and stillness, Ivy Ma’s work becomes, ultimately, a philosophical reflection on nature and history. She works her way through history by looking, collecting, drawing and thinking. The objects she collects, the images she selects, and the occasional photographs and videos she produces all strike a similar chord, one that is at uncanny, disturbing and beautiful.

She focuses on images - both stills taken from specific films and photographs found in history museums - for an ongoing series of what she calls ‘drawing-interventions’, where she actively erases and draws into and over the existing image.

Ma attained her BA (Fine Arts) degree from Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology (RMIT) / The Art School in 2001 and the MA degree in Feminist Theory and Practice in the Visual Art University of Leeds, UK in 2002. She received the FCO Chevening University of Leeds Scholarship from the Hong Kong Arts Development Council in 2001.

Her work has been included in the Hong Kong Biennial and collected by the Hong Kong Heritage Museum. In 2007, she stayed at The Åland Archipelago Guest Artist Residence for six-weeks. She has been awarded a twelve-month fellowship ( Lee Hysan Foundation Fellowship) from Asian Cultural Council to take part in residency program, attend courses and observe developments in contemporary visual arts in the United States in 2008-2009.