At first glance, Dawn Ng appears reserved. But the moment the conversation turns to her creative process, she brightens visibly—animated and entirely at ease. Her studio has the atmosphere of a working laboratory: bubbling tubs of papier-mache soaked in vegetable dyes, cross-sections of mineral stones, printouts and tests pinned up like evidence.
Scattered throughout are traces of the pigment-infused ice blocks that powered ‘Into Air’, the acclaimed body of work that developed into her recent solo exhibition. “The Earth Laughs In Flowers” featured 12 large-scale works acting as a time capsule for each month of 2025.
That clarity of craft explains her personal uniform. Ng is almost always dressed in white, as if she is creating a calm backdrop for the colours in her artworks. This is why our cover shoot felt less like a makeover and more like an extension of her language. For a few hours, she modelled Chanel’s current pre-collection and Coco Crush jewellery under our style director’s watchful eye in looks that complemented her pared-back presence.
Ng answers a couple of questions posed by her friend and the founder of Apsara curatorial studio, Jenn Ellis.
You investigate time and how it can be described and articulated beyond numerical terms in your work. When you think of ‘time’, what words come to mind?
Memory. Emotion. Colour. Person. Place.
Rhythm is closely linked to time; what is the pace of your studio practice?
Consistent, quick, deliberate.
Your exhibition “The Earth Laughs In Flowers” is a diaristic ode to the past year, month by month, input by input. If you could hold onto a couple of moments in 2025, what would they be?
Time with my ageing parents and time with my two little girls.
