Dr. Sarah Cheang on Pekingese Dogs

Amy Ching-Yan Lam’s artwork Looty Goes to Heaven reimagines Looty’s story, a small Pekingese dog that was taken from China to England during the looting of the Second Opium War and was gifted to Queen Victoria. In response to the artworks in Lam’s exhibition, Dr. Sarah Cheang, historian of Chinese material culture at Royal College of Art, UK, will talk with Amy about the history of the Pekingese dog, dog breeding, and colonial trade.

This free webinar will include time for Q+A with online participants to join in the conversation.

Session Format:

Live online presentation on the Zoom webinar platform. Pre-registration is required to participate.
Participants are welcome to join in the live Q+A discussion using the Chat feature within Zoom.
Automated English captions will be provided during the live-stream.

About the Presenters:

Dr Sarah Cheang is Head of Programme for History of Design at the Royal College of Art, London. She has a special research interest in the global histories of fashion, the body and Chinese things. Alongside Chinese ceramics, garments, embroideries, wallpapers and carpets as vectors of colonial subjectivity, she has delved into the more unusual stories of Chinese hairstyles, Chinese pianos, and most definitely the British Pekingese dog.

Amy Ching-Yan Lam is an artist and writer. She makes exhibitions, performances, and public artworks. She was part of the duo Life of a Craphead from 2006 to 2020. Lam has presented work at Eastside Projects, Seoul MediaCity Biennale, the Western Front, Centre Clark, and numerous other venues, and has participated in residencies at Macdowell and Delfina Foundation. Her first full-length collection of poetry, Baby Book, is forthcoming from Brick Books in April 2023. She was born in Hong Kong and lives in Toronto, which is Mississauga Anishinaabeg treaty territory.