Every autumn, Silian Gallery opens its season to championing Asian voices beyond their place of origin.
This year, we are proud to present Whispers of the Unseen, a collaborative exhibition with the Lotus International Arts Exchange Association. This cross-cultural collaboration, made possible with the support of the Cultural Development Fund of the Macao SAR Government, will be on view from 25 September to 21 November 2025.
The exhibition reveals what often escapes perception — the unseen layers of time and space, the unseen presence of nature within the city, and the unseen voices of memory and heritage. Curated by CHANG Chan and LAM Sio Man, Whispers of the Unseen brings together Macao-born artists Rusty Fox, WONG Weng Cheong, and WONG Weng Io, whose distinct practices converge in an exploration of the visible and the hidden, the real and the remembered.
As the representative of Macao at the 60th Venice International Art Biennale, WONG Weng Cheong garnered acclaim for his profound insight into contemporary reality and his surreal artistic language. Presented here are a selection of his earlier etchings, which merge digital drawing with traditional techniques to construct images of “eternal time” and “space without space.” The elongated, distorted figures that define these works became the foundation for later series, including those shown in Venice.
If WONG Weng Cheong’s etchings gesture toward the unseen dimensions of time and space, Rusty Fox turns to the urban environment, capturing what surfaces in its overlooked corners. During the pandemic lockdowns, he ventured into deserted streets at night to document how trees and shadows seemed to reclaim the city. In his photographs, branches and forms assume an uncanny resemblance to human figures — a reminder of nature’s quiet but persistent presence within man-made structures. Rooted in a medium traditionally used to document reality, his photographs weave together the real and the unreal, producing a sense of both familiarity and estrangement.
Extending this dialogue with history and place, WONG Weng Io grounds her sculptural practice in Macao’s colonial legacy and hybrid culture. Her works incorporate papier-mâché made from Chinese and Portuguese newspapers, combined with chunambo (夯土) — a traditional material of brown sugar, oyster shells, and gravel once used by the Portuguese army to construct fortifications — and concrete. Through this fusion of cultural fragments and materials, her sculptures explore protection, memory, and the architectures of both the physical and the psychological.
Together, these practices open a quiet dialogue with what lies beneath the visible. Whispers of the Unseen offers a moment of reflection on how what is overlooked, hidden, or forgotten continues to shape our experience of time, place, and belonging.
About the Artists |
Rusty Fox was born in Macau. He acquired his master’s degree in Documentary Photography in University of South Wales, Newport, UK and bachelor’s degree in Photography in University of East London.
His works have always explored the balance and imbalance within the city, primarily focusing on the relationship between living organisms and inanimate objects. To him, documentary photography has no limits in its presentation.
Published works include BRutAL (2016), Dummy (2018), Nocturnal (2023) and Stillness Echoes (2025) . BRutAL was collected by Oxford and Cambridge University, Trinity College, as well as three other international libraries in the United Kingdom: The British, Wales, and Scotland National Library.
WONG Weng Cheong, born in Macao in 1994, graduated with a BA in Fine Art from Goldsmiths, University of London. His practice spans multiple media, often employing computer technology such as Artificial Intelligence and 3D graphics to create immersive concepts. His portfolio encompasses still life compositions, installations, and digital images, marked by their realistic depictions of surreally tranquil scenes. A key feature of his creative process is the consideration of spatial layout, through which he seeks to challenge perceptions of the surrounding environment and activate its psychopolitical overtones. With his art, Wong encourages reflection on personal perception and on the relationship between space and its tacit but constitutive social relations.
Wong has presented solo exhibitions internationally, including Above Zobeide (Collateral Event of the 60th International Art Exhibition – La Biennale di Venezia, Venice, 2024), Somewhere Still Wild (Casa Garden Gallery, Macao, 2021), Above the Descending (Post-Ox Warehouse Experiment Site, Macao, 2020), and Catch It Outside (be-Kyoto Gallery, Kyoto, 2018). His work has also featured in major group exhibitions such as The Secret of the Golden Flower (Art Macao: Macao International Art Biennale, Albergue SCM, Macao, 2023) and Game Face (Ugly Duck Gallery, London, 2017).
WONG Weng Io works across a range of mediums such as sculpture, installation, and video, reflecting on how we deal with the inevitable changes in human behaviours and emotions in the contemporary digital era, by weaving together the fragmented memories, history, mythology and architectural elements referencing the cultural heritage of her hometown Macao.
Wong holds a Bachelor of Fine Art with First Class Honours at the Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology, Australia (2015) and obtained an MA in Sculpture at the Royal College of Art, UK (2024). She is the recipient of the Harlow Sculpture Town Artist in Residence (2024-25), the Gilbert Bayes RCA Award (2024), Royal College of Art + South Thames College Group Artist in Residency (2024-25), shortlisted for the New Blood Art Emerging Art Prize (2024), and has been awarded the 8th Orient Foundation Art Award (2019).
About the curators |
LAM Sio Man, born and raised in Macau, her curatorial practice is shaped by the city’s artistic and cultural heritage, as well as her experiences in New York’s art and cultural scene. She focuses on cross-disciplinary art and contemporary curatorial projects that challenge boundaries and foster new collaborations.
Lam holds a Bachelor’s Degree in Chinese Linguistics and a double degree in Arts from Peking University, followed by a Master’s Degree in Visual Arts Administration from New York University. She has held roles at the Macau Cultural Affairs Bureau and the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs. In 2019, she curated the Macau exhibition Heidi Lau: Apparition at the 58th Venice Biennale. Her recent curatorial projects include Believe In A River - Asian Digital Art Exhibition (2025), When The Island Casts Its Shadow - A Retrospective of Frank Lei (2025), Possibilities of A Few Streets (2024), Macau Pointcloud Garden (2023). Her work has been featured in The New York Times, The Art Newspaper, South China Morning Post, and other prominent publications. Currently, Lam is the Director of Lotus Art Space.
CHANG Chan, an independent curator based in Macao and London, graduated from King’s College London with a master’s degree in Arts and Cultural Management. Before starting her curating career, Chang had several years of professional experience in banking and art education and an academic background in Psychology and Business Management. Her personal experience drags her attention to the increasingly common psychic and existential crises of the subject of contemporary neoliberal capitalism. She attempts to use curating as a means of intervention, raising questions and exploring the possibilities of healing through art.
Chang’s recent curatorial projects include Above Zobeide, Exhibition from Macao, China, representing Macao to exhibit at the 60th International Art Exhibition – La Biennale di Venezia in 2024; The Moon Only Uses The Window, Astra Art Gallery, Shanghai, 2024; 6 x 6 Program, Galeria Tato, São Paulo, Brazil, 2024; The Secret of the Golden Flower, which was selected into the Local Curatorial Project of the Art Macao: Macao International Art Biennale 2023; Dwelling on the Cloud, London, 2022.