Karen Leong

Karen Leong is a Hong Kong-born writer, journalist and critic. Drawn to reclamation and desire, her body of work operates as semiotic storytellers across art, film and fashion. Alongside her written practice, Karen works across performance and media in bridging the juncture between film and text. You can find more of her work on Vice Asia, Astrophe Magazine, Leste Magazine, and @karen.gif.

Karen's Latest Articles

Wild Dogs Under My Skirt. Image is a group of Samoan women on a stage sitting on chairs in a semi circle and holding their fists together in front of them. In the middle stands another woman in a grey dress raising her arms triumphantly. The camera is at the back of the audience so some silhouetted heads are in the foreground.
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Performance review: Wild Dogs Under My Skirt, Riverside Theatres

Poetry-based work about being a Samoan woman performed by a multi-skilled ensemble.

Peter Cat Recording Co. Photo: Supplied. A five-person band from New Delhi. A group photo where the members are sitting, standing or hanging upside down.
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Performance reviews: Smashed: The Nightcap, The Chosen Haram and Peter Cat Recording Co., Sydney Festival

A smorgasbord of cabaret, theatre and live music at the Sydney Festival.

Installation view of ‘Telly Tuita: Tongpop’s Great Expectations’ at Campbelltown Arts Centre. Photo: Jodie Barker. Installation and photography works inside a spacious gallery with sky blue walls.
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Self-representation and cultural references in the work of Telly Tuita

Telly Tuita’s solo exhibition signifies a full-circle moment.

‘Viva Korea’ at Riverside Theatres. Photo: Supplied. Two performers in traditional Korean dress on a stage set-up with large artistic screen dividers.
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Performance review: Viva Korea, Riverside Theatres

A nod to tradition that ended in a communal sing-along.

Yuan Shun, ‘Soft Landing’, 2018, on view as part of ‘A Blueprint for Ruins’ at White Rabbit Gallery. Image: Supplied. A model of a brown dusty landscape that feels otherworldly, made with wood, sand, lights, fog machine, stones and aluminium.
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A collection’s blueprint for ruins

ArtsHub previews White Rabbit’s latest exhibition, ‘A Blueprint for Ruins’, on the race of renewal and destruction within China’s urban…

'Revenge Tales and Romance' in 'New Breed 2023' by Sydney Dance Company. Photo: Pedro Greig. A centre figure with blond hair, a pink cowboy hat and a star-studded leotard kneels on stage with her head facing up. Two figures are lying on the ground, head turned towards the centre and their bodies partially cropped from view.
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Dance review: New Breed 2023, Carriageworks

Unwavering talent with evocative works showcasing the newest developments in contemporary dance.

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Towards continuum: behind the hardware of digital art

Understanding the self and the future in digital art through artists from the Asian Australian diaspora in collaboration with Sugar…

Live Futures. Image is a leather clad woman on all fours and a half seen person with their foot on her behind with some bondage rope.
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Live Futures: an inquiry of queer sex and play

When we look for sex and play, where do we go? ArtsHub attends 'Live Futures: Queer Cultural Safety and Existential…

Nighttime Righttime. Image is three women dressed in light gold shimmering one-pieces with sashes, gyrating in a large empty room.
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Performance review: Nighttime Righttime, Carriageworks

Presented as part of Performance Space’s Liveworks Festival, ‘Nighttime Righttime’ was a syncopated medley of the wonderfully odd.

Nakahira. image is black and white shot of two young people embracing on a yacht which is moored.
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Film reviews: Flora on the Sand (1964) and Juvenile Jungle (1956), Japanese Film Festival

The feature of a retrospective at the 2023 Japanese Film Festival, Kō Nakahira was a filmmaker who interrogated themes of…

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