Artist Profile Priscilla YC Tang
Priscilla YC Tang, Urchins: The Past Era, 2018,
Charcoal, ink, and pencil on paper.
Artist Statement
The concept for Urchins: The Last Era had been in formation for years before inception in early 2017. During that time street urchins roamed the streets of China. Looking on with sympathy, but unable to do much to ease the sufferings of these children, I resorted to expressing my empathy by painting a picture of their situation, hoping to provide an answer to their plight. It is only now that I am showing the situation of the quandary of these children: no schooling, no proper shelter, under nourishment. Currently, I am most happy to say that the prevalence of street urchins appears to have become a thing of the past. Most positive is the intervention of social workers under public directives: Street urchins are found schooling, given food and shelter. The syndicates that ruled the urchins appear to have been wiped off in China.
In 2018, I painted this portrait using Mixed Media as I felt it best to express the situation the urchins lived under in reality: squalor and deprived of basic amenities. Dishevelled and dust covered, Mixed Media brought out these expressions best. Done with Charcoal, pens and pencil, I managed to capture interest and even beauty in the reality of squalor.
Artist Biography
Priscilla YC Tang is a Permanent Resident of Hong Kong. She had her schooling in the Convent of the Holy Infant Jesus, Ipoh and her PreU studies at the La Salleian school, St Michael’s Institution, Ipoh, Malaysia. She then enrolled into the National University of Singapore NUS to study Architecture and obtained a Bachelor’s Degree in Architecture. Priscilla has had a varied number of careers but they had all been centered Art and Design, namely, Assistant Architect, Fashion Illustrator, Fantasy Figurine Designer, and now, a Pet Portraitist.
She is married to a HK’er and is based in Hong Kong. Priscilla’s background as Fashion Illustrator has benefitted her clients, mostly Americans.
Priscilla has won a 2nd Prize at UK’s “PAWtrait Artist of the Year ’23” and has acquired an appreciative audience of more than 10 million for her portraits as tracked by Tailwind as of December, 2023.