Where Artistic Worlds Meet: Mandy El-Sayegh and Theresa Hak Kyung Cha Interview with Mandy El-Sayegh
By Seo Kyung Ahn
In this solo exhibition, For Theresa, you have prominently highlighted the Korean-American artist Theresa Hak Kyung Cha. When did you first discover her work?
It was about six years ago while I was immersed in the deeply profound and intense novels of Cormac McCarthy. Renan Laru-an, a Philippine-born curator who was with me at the time, suggested I read Theresa Hak Kyung Cha's writings. Around that period, I was fascinated by 'embodied writing'—a method of capturing bodily sensations through text. As soon as I read Dictee, I was profoundly captivated. I found many resonances with my own life in her poetic and layered text, which explores language and identity. I was born in Malaysia to a Chinese-Malaysian mother and a Palestinian father, and later moved to the UK, which allowed me to navigate between the Arabic, Malaysian, and Chinese languages. Living as a beautifully unique presence who embraces both Western and Eastern cultural spheres, I found Cha’s concept of the body communicating through its own distinct presence to be incredibly intriguing. It felt deeply historical yet personal, poetic yet physical, and I felt inspired to channel that methodology into my own work.
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What was it about the book cover that allowed so many rich memories to emerge? To ask more directly, how did you bring together Theresa Hak Kyung Cha and the painting on the cover to complete your new work, Grand Collection of World Art, which shares its title with the book?
The time I spent adapting to British society feels like a unique evolution of my own narrative. To borrow from Lacan's 'Mirror Stage' theory, growing up, I was constantly searching for a cultural mirror that could fully reflect and elevate my multi-layered background. My father, who carries a rich history of diaspora and migration, possessed an intense sensitivity, and both of my parents chose to let me discover my own history organically. At times, it felt as though I was completely rewriting my own existence. To find my ideal creative ground, I spent a great deal of time at the Hammersmith Library. It was a wonderful sanctuary where I could fully immerse myself in books for hours. That space sparked my lifelong engagement with anatomy, geography, psychoanalysis, and philosophy, which form the bedrock of my practice.
Later, during my art school years, figurative painting like Peter Doig's was a major movement. However, I made a conscious choice to postpone rendering concrete objects until I could truly appreciate and redefine what makes certain aesthetics beautiful and valuable. Thus, I began creating highly abstract drawings. That process was about leaving my subtle self-impressions and capturing my perceived time within the space of the canvas. Ultimately, I wanted to truly understand the deeper meaning of history. Within my unique timeline—where language is a fluid, evolving element—expressing my existence through art became a beautiful way to interpret and understand the space of meaning. I see that creative endeavor as deeply aligned with the profound methodology of Dictee.
