About Muse Garden

Located in the heart of Hong Kong’s Central district at PMQ, Muse Garden is a space of art inspiration and balsam. Guided by the philosophy of “Infusing Art into everyday life, Making Art accessible to all,” Muse Garden is a compound space for aesthetic appreciation, cultural tasting, and creative dialogue. Through dynamic exhibitions, salons, and collaborations, Muse Garden remains steadfast in making art a daily discourse and integrating art seamlessly into life.

About Kong Ning

Kong Ning, born in 1958 in Manzhouli, Inner Mongolia, China, currently lives and works in Beijing and Paris. Her interdisciplinary practice encompasses a rich tapestry of expressive forms, including writing, filmmaking, oil painting, performance art, installations, short films, documentaries, and poetry.

Kong Ning’s art journey is born from her extraordinary experiences. Born in a remote northern border area, far from the city, she had a tough and isolated childhood. However, she instead constructed an intimate interactive relationship with the natural world. At the age of 13, she worked as a caregiver in a hospital to look after her seriously ill mother, where carrying the dead was part of her daily job. In the 1980s, she witnessed the instantaneous disappearance of lives during her work, and she also endured extreme pain from her father’s suicide and her mother’s passing. Her soul was intertwined with the weight and sorrow of existence. In 2005, she felt the call of the soul and inexplicably picked up the brush, finding an outlet for life. From then on, she entrusted her inexpressible journey, as well as her very existence, to her art creations.

Kong Ning’s art pieces embody a distinctive essence akin to a “visual diary,” encapsulating temporal fragments—an aesthetic chronicle of lived experiences. Her art often challenges our visual perceptions, inviting reflections that transcend mere depiction. Her paintings mirror her innermost self: extremely sensitive, fragile, tormented yet expressive, resilient, rich, and rebellious. The daring brushwork captures fleeting emotions and existential epiphanies. Her portrayals exude mystery, with female figures entwined with botanical elements as her central subjects. These depictions transcend mere physicality, morphing into vessels of universal human experience, navigating the realms between the secular and the metaphysical, symbolizing the relationship between natural spiritual forces and human life.

Kong Ning cherishes “life” — both natural and human life. With transcendent and spirited emotions, Kong Ning has been unwaveringly committed to the creation of artworks that orbit themes of life and the ecological environment. Not only do her paintings garner admiration from collectors and art institutions, but her performances and installations advocating for peace and environmental conservation have far-reaching social impacts. Having created and exhibited over a hundred installations and performances worldwide over the past decade, she stands as a significant environmental artist on the global stage.