<Why Filmmaker Ming Wong Is the Ultimate Shape-Shifter — Art News
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Why Filmmaker Ming Wong Is the Ultimate Shape-Shifter

Berlin-based Singaporean artist Ming Wong premiered a new film, *Dance of the Sun on the Water | Saltatio Solis in Aqua*, at London's National Gallery. The work, created during a residency, reimagines Saint Sebastian as a queer, shape-shifting figure, with Asian performers of multiple genders enacting the martyrdom amidst the museum's collection of historical paintings of the saint.

Wong's practice, which involves inserting himself into canonical Western films and deconstructing identity through performance, challenges fixed notions of culture, gender, and history. His work, recognized at major events like the Venice Biennale, is significant for its exploration of postcolonial identity, queer subjectivity, and the fluidity of cultural heritage against the backdrop of institutional art history.