Project 2022: Emo Gym

Dony Cheng Hung

Inspired by the manmade nature and sense of alienation the artist experienced in Hong Kong, Cheng's multidisciplinary practice recurringly reveals the complex of light, shapes, and spaces.

Cheng Hung (Dony Cheng) lives and works in Hong Kong. She is a recipient of the 19th Hong Kong Arts Development Award for Young Artist (Visual Arts) (2025) and a studio grant at HART Haus.

Selected Media Features
Selected projects

Education

Master of Fine Arts, the Chinese University of Hong Kong (2 years)
2023

Degree of Bachelor of Arts, the Chinese University of Hong Kong, Major in Fine Arts
2017

Solo Exhibitions

“Finding Rest on the Highway”, Gallery Exit, Hong Kong
2024

“Late Night Minibus Ride”, ACO space, Hong Kong
2021

"The Night Observer”, Yen Ben Contemporary, Taiwan

2021

"The Sunset Lasts Forever", a.m.space, Hong Kong
2020

"Maybe Someday It Will be True", Solo Exhibition, a.m. space, Hong Kong
2018

Selected Group Exhibitions

“The Archivist Augurs, the Larper Dreams”, Square Street Gallery, Hong Kong
2024

“Nature: a Perception”, HART Haus, Hong Kong
2024

“Fluid Maze”, Woaw Gallery, Hong Kong
2024

“Seeing Inside, Seeing Outside”, MFA Graduation Exhibition, Art Museum, CUHK, Hong Kong
2023

“Where Great Minds Shine”, Arts Pavilion, West Kowloon Cultural District, Hong Kong
2023

“Confluence of Voices”, Pao Galleries, Hong Kong Arts Centre, Hong Kong
2023

“Lost in Translation”, Galerie du Monde, Hong Kong
2023

“Elaboration of the reflected lights”, Duo solo exhibition, Gallery Exit, Hong Kong
2022

“Emo Gym”, JC Contemporary, Tai Kwun, Hong Kong
2022

“High Res Worlds” – Gok Dou Live, Asia Society, Art Central, Hong Kong
2021

“Shining Moment”, Tang Art Foundation, Hong Kong
2021

“Door”, the Shop House, Hong Kong
2021

“Tomorrow is never a new day”, Negative Space, Foo Tak Building, Hong Kong
2020

“Matter”, Seoul Auction Hong Kong, H Queen’s, Hong Kong
2019

“Fresh Trend 2017”, Art Graduates Joint Exhibition, chi K11 art space, Hong Kong
2017

“Lightness/ Distance/ Intervention/ Cycling/ Mapping”, Hui Gallery, CUHK, Hong Kong
2017

“Nothing’s Gonna Change My Love for You”, BA Graduation Exhibition, Art Museum, CUHK, Hong Kong
2017

Awards and Grants

HKADC Award for Young Artist (Visual Arts)
2025

Studio Grant, HART Haus, Hong Kong
2024

WMA Graduate Awards (Lens-based media),MFA Grad Show, CUHK
2023

Emerging Artist Scheme - Exhibition Funding from HKADC
2020

Fresh Trend Art Award, Fresh Trend
2017

Grotto Fine Art’s Creative Award, CUHK
2017

Art Rescidencies

“Door”, the Shop House, Hong Kong
2021

Tresure Hill Artist Village, Taipei
2018

Selected Press and Media Features

South China Morning Post, What the Hong Kong Arts Development Awards Need to Learn from Art Basel
2025

ArtAsiaPacific, “New Currents: Dony Cheng Hung” by Alex Yiu — Featuring stills and commentary on The Landscape of the World of Straight Lines
2024

Artomity, Folio, Summer Issue — Hong Kong
2024

Ming Pao, 三十而立：在光暗黑白中找尋自己 — 專訪畫家鄭虹（Dony）
2022

Ming Pao, 鄭虹在平凡的東西找到靈感放慢節奏享受創作過程
2021

City Magazine, Issue 534 (April 2021): “The Night Watcher Seeks the Exit of Light” — Text by Samwai Lai
2021

Sample Magazine, Art Project Feature — Hong Kong
2020

Public and Collaborative Art Projects

InnerGlow Searchlight, Video Projection, Tai Kwun, Hong Kong
2025

Open the Box: Home Sweet Home, onsite collaborative art project with lead artists, JC Contemporary, Tai Kwun, Hong Kong
2024

55 Squared, Unfurling the Scroll of Time and Space, commissioned wall art project, Tai Kwun, Hong Kong
2020

Selected Art Fairs

Art Basel, Gallery Exit, Hong Kong
2025

Supper Club, HART Haus, Hong Kong
2025

Westbund, Gallery Exit, Shanghai
2024

Art Basel, Gallery Exit, Hong Kong
2024

Supper Club, the Shophouse, Hong Kong
2024

Asia Now, the Shophouse, the Monnaie de Paris, Paris
2023

Art Basel, Gallery Exit, Hong Kong
2023

Taipei Dangdai, Gallery Exit, Taipei
2023

Art Basel, Gallery Exit, Hong Kong
2022

emo gym
2022

Courtesy Tai Kwun Contemporary. Photo: Kwan Sheung Chi.

emo gym
21 April – 19 June 2022
JC Contemporary, Tai Kwun, Hong Kong

Curated by Erin Li

Artists: Dony Cheng Hung, Chloë Cheuk, Michele Chu, Jess Lau Ching Wa, Sharon Lee, Eason Tsang Ka Wai, Yim Sui Fong

emo gym brings together seven Hong Kong artists to explore emotional vulnerability in an age marked by distance, digital intimacy, and social upheaval. The exhibition questions whether vulnerability is a fundamental state of being, and if sharing it could foster deeper connections. Subtle, sincere, and close to the artists’ hearts, the works invite viewers to pause, feel, and open themselves up—just as one would in a quiet moment at the gym of the soul.

Link: More info on Tai Kwun’s site here.

Paintings exhibited

Courtesy Tai Kwun Contemporary. Photo: Kwan Sheung Chi.

Reflective Lake, 2021
Acrylic, musou black, charcoal and soft pastel on canvas, 146 x 124 cm

Exhibited in:
emo gym, JC Contemporary, Tai Kwun, Hong Kong (2024)

Commissioned by JC Contemporary

Courtesy Tai Kwun Contemporary. Photo: Kwan Sheung Chi.

Road (right), 2021
Charcoal, soft pastel and pencil on canvas, 65 x70 cm

Exhibited in:
emo gym, JC Contemporary, Tai Kwun, Hong Kong (2024)

Previously shown in:
Late Night Minibus Ride, ACO Art Space, Hong Kong (2021)
Tang Art Foundation, Hong Kong (2021)

More Installation shots

Courtesy Tai Kwun Contemporary. Photo: Kwan Sheung Chi.

Exhibition Guide Book

Click here to download and see the full guidebook of emo gym.

Online Feature

‘emo gym’ Exercises Vulnerability in Hong Kong

Ocula
Date Published: 18 May 2022
Format: Online Article
Written by: Sarah Wei

The group exhibition emo gym at Tai Kwun Contemporary invited seven Hong Kong artists—including Dony Cheng Hung—to explore emotional vulnerability through subtle, introspective works. The feature highlights how the show created space for reflection and intimate connection amidst the digitalisation of experience and social uncertainty.

Link: Read article