Ngai Se Ngaa, Elsa was born in 2001 in Hong Kong, and is presently studying at CUHK for a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree. She visited Beijing Fine Arts Academy and Tsinghua University for Chinese painting advanced studies. Her paintings combine modern life scenes and travel scenery with classical Chinese aesthetics, using mineral pigments and ink to construct locations where ancient and contemporary themes intersect. Her artworks have been exhibited in Tsi Ku Chai, Ink Asia, The Art of CUHK, Hui’s Gallery, and Koo Ming Kown Exhibition Gallery, and are enthusiastically collected by Hong Kong collectors. She has been awarded the Friends of the Art Museum Prize, the Madam Jan Yun-bor Memorial Award for Chinese Painting and Calligraphy, and the Professor Raymond Fung Chinese Painting Award.

Artwork Caption

‘Kong Shan Xue Jing Tu’
 (Coral bleaching in ice and snow)

‘Qi Niao Tu’ (1)

Exotic Bird (1)

‘Qi Niao Tu’ (2)’

Exotic Bird (2)

An oasis of cold water with forests in the sea.
Desolate jade (legend) mountains whose rocks are covered with white-toned mud.

The birds have flown away: where may they find new nests?

Sea temperatures have been rising due to global warming.  This rise affects the body temperature of coral polyps. Corals may suffer from fever if the sea temperature rises by just one or two degrees, and may even die.

This artwork uses the forests and oasis as a metaphor for corals. Widespread coral bleaching occurs due to continuous high ocean temperatures, and the bleached coral ultimately comes to resemble a snowscape. Although the blighted corals are poignantly beautiful, they have lost their colour and their life. Creatures that once dwelled here have no choice but to leave and search for new homes. The artist uses a poetic conceit to show how the marine environment is affected by global warming, in the hope that this will encourage people to protect the ecosystem and participate in coral reef conservation.

The exotic bird carries a coral branch in a dreamy pink world.  It perches on a barren branch, in search of a suitable home.

Building a nest with branches symbolizes the triumph of hope over a sense of loss.

The exotic bird carries a coral branch, but is isolated on a pile of garbage while she seeks a suitable home. Perhaps they will make their new home here, and the chicks will survive amidst the waste generated by humans.

*This artwork uses a mineral gravel texture with a peeling effect on the bird’s body, simulating an antique painting or monument and producing a hazy effect of temporal stagnation.