Spanning film photographs, scanned images of pages and book covers, 3D animation, and 2D animation, Hangnail critically explores the fetishisation and romanticisation of feminine death, delving deep into the complex legacy of fictional heroines across various art forms and within the digital realm. The work exposes the pervasive occurrence of the deaths of young girls and rethinks the unrealistic portrayals perpetuated by late male literary and artistic figures. The artist examines society’s fixation on the concept of “reality” and its perception of “truths” and how the dominant systems of power have historically exploited the concept of “fictionality” to fulfil fantasies and fetishisations.

《Hangnail》糅合底片照片、書頁和書籍封面的掃描圖像、三維動畫以及二維動畫，以女性死亡的 戀物癖化和浪漫化作為起點，爬梳各種藝術形式與數碼場域中虛構女角色的複雜語境。作品揭露 少女死亡的泛濫現象，並叩問已故男性文學與藝術大師對女性的脫離現實的描繪。藝術家重新審 視社會對「真實」一概念以及所謂認知的「真相」的迷戀，以及歷史脈絡中權力體制如何利用虛構 性，滿足幻想和戀物癖。

Hou Lam Tsui (b. 1997), is an artist based in Hong Kong. Her work encompasses a wide range of mediums, including moving images, installation, sculpture, and text. Her practice centres around gender, emotions, body, and personal experiences. Drawing inspiration from pop culture, anime, and TV commercials, Tsui critically explores the tension between agency and consumer desires and rethinks how capitalism shapes the commodification of bodies.

Tsui received a BA in Fine Art and History of Art from the University of Leeds in 2018 and an MFA from the Chinese University of Hong Kong in 2024. Selected recent exhibitions include Follow the Feeling (Times Museum, 2024), One is not born a woman (Square Street Gallery, 2023), Post-Human Narratives—In the Name of Scientific Witchery (Hong Kong Museum of Medical Sciences, 2022), and Noble Rot (Para Site, Hong Kong, 2021).