Uncle Wrinkle

I started to make pottery after I moved to the UK around 25 years ago. While I have been running the restaurant with my partner Uncle Wrinkle, I enrolled on a course of pottery making at Lewisham community centre and later studied an art degree, turning my interest into my career.

At first I put my pots in the restaurant to entertain customers when they were waiting for their takeaway. Many customers were surprised and delighted to see the pottery works on display. As a result, Uncle Wrinkle developed a corner as a gallery space to showcase my artworks.

I believe that it has been a success to connect art with everyday life. It is very encouraging to see artworks become more accessible to the public. What’s more, local pottery activities have now become one of the often-discussed topics at the dinner tables.

Ching Wong’s videos features Uncle Wrinkle and Siu Kwan, the restaurateurs of a Chinese takeaway named ‘Uncle Wrinkle’ on New Cross Road. They migrated from Hong Kong to the UK in the 1980s and 1990s respectively.

The videos interrogate stigmatic and conventional representation of migrants’ lives and dives into their transforming perception of identity and social relationship through exploring the materiality within their lives. A video installation of Ching Wong’s work was presented at ‘Home is wherever I’m with you’ (2019) exhibition, curated by Sandra Lam.