2022. Dowagers Overture. Shary Boyle & Howie Tsui. Ink and gouache on paper, 91cm x 56cm HT: In Dowagers Overture, Shary set the literal stage by situating the work in the Xiqu Centre – a state-of-the-art performance space devoted to Chinese forms of opera in a newly developed cultural district in Hong Kong. Locally and amongst the diaspora, we are sensitive to the decision to name the centre “Xiqu”, which is the mandarin (pinyin) translation of “opera” used in mainland China; as opposed to using the local cantonese romanization “Jyut Kek” (jyutping). These shifty gestures point to the tide of monoculturalism eroding local culture. SB: Howie’s Cantonese and my UK ancestry have rubbed off on each other. How did the British Empire and its colonial presence steal, oppress and inspire contemporary Hong Kong? No one can tell the full story, so I propose an interpretive performance in 156 acts, co-produced by the Royal Opera House and the Xiqu Centre, starring the Umbrella-Nutcracker Kids, and generously supported by the Princess and the Patron. HT: The narrative foundation that Shary established read like a toxic production of some kind, replete with feigned innocence, a polluting financier and imported high culture. From a macro view, after internalizing the Centre’s incursive naming choice, I saw the framing of the stage as resembling the Qing dynasty Empress Cixi’s headdress. This led me to render the abstracted face of a despot on stage with medusa-like locks, accompanied by her subjects (jailed cockroach, opium smoker, tycoon, cellist). For me, the work seems to compress the layers of Hong Kong through time from the final throes of the dynastic era to the present.

2022. The Steam Junk Treaties. Howie Tsui & Shary Boyle. Ink and gouache on paper. 76cm x 94cm SB: In early 19th century Britain’s East India Company was the number one importer of unregulated opium into the ‘western’ world. This drug resource was just one massive revenue stream of many for the British Empire; valuable enough to wage war on China when they resisted EIC passage because of the damage of addiction and violence these shipments brought to their own people. Britain’s steamships outgunned China’s junk boats in what became known as The Opium Wars. The British military victors forced the emperor to hand over Hong Kong, and sign what is called in Chinese history the Unfair Treaties. HT: For The Steam Junk Treaties, I wanted to produce a scene where figures were numb to being conquered – a hallucinatory rendition of historical opium war art. I toyed with using figurative distortions to convey altered states of sedation as figures shelter from cannonball fire behind a ruptured junk ship. The cracked boat served as a Kinder Egg for Shary to fill. To arm her with more improv juice, I sent along archival images of bourgeois Parisian opium parties and speculated that the influx of synthetic opiates into our communities is a form of calculated revenge – a boomeranging ellipse of pain.

Judy. Shary Boyle and Jillian Tamaki, 2019. Porcelain, underglaze, acrylic gouache. 46T x 35W x 25D cm

Caminos y Capas /  a path through the layers. Shary Boyle and Lido Pimienta, 2019. Porcelain, underglaze, acrylic gouache, goldleaf. 46T x 33W x 25D cm

Weatherwoman. Shary Boyle and Rajni Perera, 2018. Porcelain, underglaze, acrylic gouache, textiles, feathers, fur. 46T x 42W x 36D cm 

Sugluk, 2016. Porcelain, fur, caribou hide. Sculpture by John Kurok, painting and details by Shary Boyle.

Facing Forward, 2016. Pierre Aupilardjuk and Shary Boyle. Porcelain, underglaze and smoke-fired stoneware. 34 x 18 x 28 cm. Figure sculpted and painted by Boyle, three heads sculpted and smoke-fired by Aupilardjuk

Facing Forward, 2016. Pierre Aupilardjuk and Shary Boyle. Porcelain, underglaze and smoke-fired stoneware. 34 x 18 x 28 cm. Figure sculpted and painted by Boyle, three heads sculpted and smoke-fired by Aupilardjuk

Greek Tragedy, 2016. Shary Boyle and John Kurok. Porcelain and smoke-fired stoneware. 54 x 24 x 30 cm. Porcelain sculpture by Boyle, smoke-fired stoneware mask by Kurok

Greek Tragedy, 2016. Shary Boyle and John Kurok. Porcelain and smoke-fired stoneware. 54 x 24 x 30 cm. Porcelain sculpture by Boyle, smoke-fired stoneware mask by Kurok

Nuliajuk oqaluppoq, 2016. Pierre Aupilardjuk, Shary Boyle and John Kurok. Underglazed and smoke-fired stoneware. 22 x 21 x 27 cm. Figure sculpted by Kurok, three heads sculpted by Aupilardjuk, hand-painted by Boyle.

Western Medicine, 2015 – 2016. Shuvinai Ashoona and Shary Boyle. Plaster, human hair, acrylic, ink. 76 x 55 x 55 cm. Figure sculpted, detailed and painted by Boyle, face painted by Ashoona.

Self Portrait, collaboration with Shuvinai Ashoona, 2015. Ink and coloured pencil on paper. 107 x 86 cm

Exhibition, collaboration with Shuvinai Ashoona, 2015. Ink and coloured pencil on paper. 99 x 107 cm

InaGodadavida, collaboration with Shuvinai Ashoona, 2015. Ink and coloured pencil on paper. 123 x 218 cm

Exhibition, collaboration with Shuvinai Ashoona, 2015. Ink and coloured pencil on paper. 99 x 107 cm

The Origin of the Eel, collaboration with Shuvinai Ashoona, 2015. Ink and coloured pencil on paper. 127 x 64 cm

Black Marble, collaboration with Shuvinai Ashoona, 2015. Ink and coloured pencil on paper. 91 x 107 cm

Universal Cobra Pussy, collaboration with Shuvinai Ashoona, 2011. Ink, gouache & coloured pencil on paper. 111 x 111 cm

Bloodie Decides to Leave and Leaves, 2008. 100 x 108 cm. The Illuminations Project is a 10-yr call-and-response collaboration between Shary Boyle (drawing) and Emily Very Duke (writing). This custom series of Giclee drawing/text print pairs are reproduced according to their original size. Each pair is available in a limited edition of 3. For inquiries or samples of Emily Vey Duke’s companion texts, please contact us via this website. A comprehensive edition of all 5 pairs is available as a 40 x 50 cm box set, collected in an archival portfolio storage box.

Bloodie Writes an Anthem, 2005. Giclee print. 50 x 43 cm.  The Illuminations Project is a 10-yr call-and-response collaboration between Shary Boyle (drawing) and Emily Very Duke (writing). This custom series of Giclee drawing/text print pairs are reproduced according to their original size. Each pair is available in a limited edition of 3. For inquiries or samples of Emily Vey Duke’s companion texts, please contact us via this website. A comprehensive edition of all 5 pairs is available as a 40 x 50 cm box set, collected in an archival portfolio storage box.

Feral girls and dogs hunt down and prepare to slay God, 2004. Giclee print. 61 x 46 cm.   A selection of 5 pairs of Boyle drawings and Duke texts from The Illuminations Project in editions of 3. This custom series of Giclee prints are text/drawing companions, reproduced according to their original size. For samples of Emily Vey Duke’s companion texts, please contact the artist. 
A comprehensive edition of 5 is available as a 40 x 50 cm box set, collected in an archival portfolio storage box. 

The Obvious Answer, 2005. Giclee print. 61 x 46 cm. The Illuminations Project is a 10-yr call-and-response collaboration between Shary Boyle (drawing) and Emily Very Duke (writing). This custom series of Giclee drawing/text print pairs are reproduced according to their original size. Each pair is available in a limited edition of 3. For inquiries or samples of Emily Vey Duke’s companion texts, please contact us via this website. A comprehensive edition of all 5 pairs is available as a 40 x 50 cm box set, collected in an archival portfolio storage box.

In the winter, we are less happy, 2004. Giclee print. 46 x 61 cm. The Illuminations Project is a 10-yr call-and-response collaboration between Shary Boyle (drawing) and Emily Very Duke (writing). This custom series of Giclee drawing/text print pairs are reproduced according to their original size. Each pair is available in a limited edition of 3. For inquiries or samples of Emily Vey Duke’s companion texts, please contact us via this website. A comprehensive edition of all 5 pairs is available as a 40 x 50 cm box set, collected in an archival portfolio storage box.