A performance by ioi Choi, for the vernissage of "Récits de l'Entre Deux - Traversées culturelles d‘artistes femmes de Macao" at Galerie 59Rivoli, 75001 Paris
For this particular performance and painting, I chose the character “女” (Neoi5 in Cantonese pinyin), meaning girl, woman, or daughter, as an ode to this exhibition and to the shared identity of its participants: all women from Macau.
The choreography follows the order and direction of the character’s traditional strokes, remaining faithful to its written form while translating it into the language of the body. Each gesture becomes both a mark and a movement, carrying the character beyond its literal meaning and into a new, embodied expression shaped by rhythm, fluidity, and presence. In this process, “女” becomes not simply a character to be written, but a form to be inhabited—an exploration of femininity, cultural heritage, and collective identity through the simultaneous act of moving, painting, and becoming.
After thoroughly exploring the painting process of body as brush, the natural next step in my practice is to integrate choreography into the act of painting—creating a complete performance in which each application of paint becomes a deliberate movement. Where improvisation once initiated the process, choreography now shapes the final image, allowing meaning to emerge through motion.
My early training in Chinese calligraphy deeply informs this approach. I have long been drawn to its expressive range, where variations in pressure and rhythm give the brush a voice, turning writing into a form of dance. This is especially evident in kuangcao (literally translates into “wild grass” and means a wild cursive), an energetic style in which strokes merge into fluid, spontaneous lines that prioritize emotion over legibility.
Building on my background in classical Chinese dance, I aim to bring together the choreographic principles embedded in calligraphy with a visual language of painting through the body. By translating the structure, rhythm, and energy of Chinese characters into movement, with the use of choreography to actively shape the marks made on the canvas. In doing so, the work becomes a deliberate embodiment of environment, culture, and heritage—where movement, mark-making, and image are created simultaneously as one unified process.
女 Neoi5
earth pigments and olive oil on canvas
190 x 270 cm
2026
