Chong Siew Ying is like the queen of Bian Lian, the Chinese wizardry of face swapping dating back some three centuries, to the time of the Sung. But the difference is that the faces, often in demented and hilarious laughter, are not masks like in Sichuan Opera, but are camouflages or a sort of dissembling to conceal one's feelings. Here, the boy, or a youngish-looking man, has his face plastered over the whole canvas. Is he laughing? It looks more like a grimace, a chagrin. And why? Laughter is always the best medicine, but in Siew Ying's repertoire, it takes a more sinister bent albeit not ostensibly clear, so we laugh along with it. It's just like Yue Minjun's circus of laughing men, but to Siew Ying, she is more concerned with getting the facial expressions, the lighting effects right and the textures. It's not a portrait per se, or about a person, it's more about a human face. Times like this, you can almost hear the background strains of Beyonce's If I Were A Boy (2008). Some would have been contented with a diploma in Graphic Design (Petaling Jaya College of Art and Design). Not Chong Siew Ying, who bravely ventured to France to further her studies at the L'Ecole des Beaux-Arts (Versailles, 1991-1994) and L'Atelier 63 (1994-1996), supporting herself by working part-time as an au pair. When there, she had the honour of solos at the Maison Tch'A, Atelier d'Maravel and Gallery Café Panique, and prints biennials in France, Spain, Holland and Taiwan. On her return in 2000, she was awarded the artist's residency at Rimbun Dahan, which was followed by another at the Vermont Studio Centre (Freeman Fellowship). Her achievements include the Special Award in the Young Contemporary Artists (BMS) competition (2002). She was also a finalist in the Hong Kong Sovereign Art Prize (2009). She was in the travelling Malaysian Shadows and Images exhibition in Malmo (Sweden), Barcelona and Madrid (Spain), and featured in the 2015 Art Stage Singapore.