I was aimlessly scrolling through my Instagram feed when my screen was engulfed by a blue light. I was taken aback by a video of an underwater Times Square; along with the images, the sound of a submarine ecosystem soothed me, making me stop and take a few minutes to fully grasp what I was seeing.  Before me was Mulan, a video by Montreal-based artist––from Chinese descent––Chun Hua Catherine Dong, projected on 95 digital billboards. The first time I watched the video was in a virtual reality headset but the effect was similar as I was transported into an aquatic environment full of color and marine creatures cohabiting with human figures dressed with the traditional Chinese opera attire. What compelled me was the work’s innovative symbiosis between “natural life” and “human culture”, between life above and below the surface as well as the hybridization of digital design and drawing techniques. The artist defines it as an exploration of Chinese folktales, gender and our “right to complexity and to range”.   Originally a performer, Chun Hua Catherine Dong is a cross-disciplinary artist working with a vast array of mediums such as photography, 3D printing, virtual reality and artificial intelligence. Their artistic practice focuses on themes related to memory, migration, identity and gender. 

During the hot summer days, I was aimlessly scrolling through my Instagram feed when my screen was engulfed by a blue light. I was taken aback by a video of an underwater Times Square; along with the images, the sound of a submarine ecosystem soothed me, making me stop and take a few minutes to fully grasp what I was seeing.  Before me was Mulan, a video by Montreal-based artist––from Chinese descent––Chun Hua Catherine Dong, projected on 95 digital billboards. The first time I watched the video was in a virtual reality headset but the effect was similar as I was transported into an aquatic environment full of color and marine creatures cohabiting with human figures dressed with the traditional Chinese opera attire. What compelled me was the work’s innovative symbiosis between “natural life” and “human culture”, between life above and below the surface as well as the hybridization of digital design and drawing techniques. The artist defines it as an exploration of Chinese folktales, gender and our “right to complexity and to range”.