Cindy Huang is a contemporary artist based in Tāmaki Makaurau. Identifying as Tauiwi of Chinese descent, her practice predominantly considers recent social histories of Aotearoa and disrupts conventional understanding of the past. Through storytelling and participation-based installations, she produces chance encounters to encourage community and connection.
The collaborative project Twin Cultivation (2022) produced by Rosabel Tan (Satellites) and designed by Michael McCabe, was a 2-week interactive public installation held at Panmure Train Station and Britomart, Auckland. Built upon the histories of Chinese market gardens in Tāmaki Makaurau, the project engaged with 240 strangers through a temporary garden which invited participants to unearth unexpected conversations and shared history. The artists ceramics vegetables were presented as gifts to one another.
In Huang's following project, And Follow the smell of his faint breath... (abbreviated title) (2023), Te Atamira, Queenstown, scattered porcelain lilies and terracotta vases emmewed with the memories of Round Hill, commemorated the lives of Chinese men who worked in the Otago goldfields by retracing their un-recorded stories and fragments of memories, inviting visitors to leave behind and take away the trace of another person in the form of hand-picked flowers.
Cindy Huang holds a Bachelor of Fine Arts (honours) from Elam School of Fine Arts, Bachelor of Arts, and Master's in Museum and Cultural Heritage from the University of Auckland.