Resounding Identities: Profile Of Chun Yin Rainbow Chan
By Soo-Min Shim
Portrait of CHUN YIN RAINBOW CHAN. Photo by Hyun Lee. All images courtesy the artist.
Donning a long black wig, a silk dress, and white shoes, Chun Yin Rainbow Chan transformed herself into the persona of Chamele. In her performance Gloss (2019), staged at Sydney’s Cement Fondu in March, the artist entered the Project Space, where a giant poster of Chamele luxuriating on a red velvet lounge occupied the entire back wall. Mirrored plinths holding dainty bottles modeled after the iconic Chanel perfumes transformed the gallery space into a luxury retail shop. Upon closer inspection, however, these bottles are revealed to be made from jelly wax; the jewels adorning the plinths cheap plastic; and the two reversed C’s of the Chanel logo skewed. On another set of plinths were paper masks of Chamele. An electronic track began to play and Chamele, in the flesh, began to sing.
