Kit-Ling Tjon Pian Gi

“My work has to communicate locally as well as internationally; even so I want to achieve a yin yang harmony between realism and abstraction in one piece of art.”

Kit-Ling Tjon Pian Gi studied Visual Art and Art Education in Suriname and the Netherlands (1972 – 1979). She started her career as an art teacher and lecturer, but became a full-time visual artist in 1988, with an emphasis on painting & drawing and has been involved in multidisciplinary art projects since 1996. In 2005 she added video film & video installation as a medium to her work. From 1998 to 2017 Kit-Ling was the secretary of the FVAS (Federation for Visual Artists in Suriname).

Recurring themes in her work are nature, in its physical as well as its spiritual form, the various cultures of Suriname, and women, especially the strength of women. For some time Kit-Ling also focused on creating a fusion between visual art and the art of words, which resulted in the publication of the books: ‘The Strength of Women’ (2009), and ‘Short Stories’, a bundle of poems (2012).

Kit-Ling has exhibited nationally and internationally, and in 2011 she was an artist-in-residence at the Vermont Studio Center in the USA. In 2012, she was the featured visual artist within the 13th International Conference of the Association of Caribbean Women Writers and Scholars (ACWWS). In 2013, Kit-Ling received the Bridget Jones Travel Award from the Society of Caribbean Studies in the UK. In August of 2019 the artist had a large solo exhibition at Readytex Art Gallery named One can make difference.

Discover more on Kit-Ling on her website.

Read: Self-portrait of the artist speaking in the third person

Work Experiences

Recent ‘Community Art Projects’: participated as Visual Artist and as a member of the management team.

  • 2015: Pikin Slee – Paramaribo – the Netherlands Connection
  • 2014: Art event the Giant painting, painting installed at JAP international airport, Zanderij, Suriname
  • 2011: Artist-in-residence at Vermont Studio Center, USA
  • 1988 – Now: Visual artist: Painting and Drawing, Video & Video installation since 2005, Multi disciplinary art projects since 1996

Exhibitions

  • 2023 “Hakka Opera in Suriname”, Readytex Art Gallery, Paramaribo, Suriname
  • 2023 “Muddy Waters”, Readytex Art Gallery, Paramaribo, Suriname
  • 2023 1st Bienal das Amazônias, Bubuia: Water as a Source of Imaginations and Desires, Belém, Brazil
  • 2023 “Beyond Bondage”, Readytex Art Gallery, Paramaribo, Suriname
  • 2023 ”Sarnami, Hai; Suriname, I am”, Readytex Art Gallery, Paramaribo, Suriname
  • 2023  Atlantic World Art Fair 2023
  • 2023 NO OCEAN BETWEEN US – The Surinamese collection, Readytex Art Gallery, Paramaribo, Suriname
  • 2023 CULTURAL CURRENTS: Miami meets Paramaribo, Readytex Art Gallery, Paramaribo, Suriname
  • 2023 Here and now. Are we in this together? Readytex Art Gallery, Paramaribo, Suriname
  • 2023 ECOLOGY – 30 years Readytex Art Gallery, Paramaribo, Suriname
  • 2023 ”OPO YARI” curated by Kurt Nahar, Readytex Art Gallery, Paramaribo, Suriname
  • 2022 Solo “ALAKONDRE TORI”, Readytex Art Gallery, Paramaribo, Suriname
  • 2022 Group exhibition: This ‘revolution’ is not a tea party, Readytex Art Gallery, Paramaribo, Suriname
  • 2022 BIGI SPIKRI – Reflecting on the cultural and social significance of head coverings, Readytex Art Gallery, Paramaribo, Suriname
  • 2022 “UMA STEN” a group exhibition in which women speak, Readytex Art Gallery, Suriname
  • 2022 Atlantic World Art Fair 2022
  • 2022 ‘UDUBAKI’ part two – a new inspiration from the term and custom Koiwara of the Kariña, RAG, Suriname
  • 2021 “Nude beauty’” at Readytex Art Gallery, Paramaribo, Suriname
  • 2021 Atlantic World Art Fair 2021
  • 2021 Manifesto group exhibition ALAKONDRE, WI TRU FESI, RAG, Suriname
  • 2020 Cultural encounters: Art of Asian diasporas in Latin America & the Caribbean, 1945 – Present, Kalamazoo Institute, Michigan, USA
  • 2020 IN THE FACE OF CHANGE exhibition, Readytex Art Gallery, Suriname
  • 2019 Solo “One can make a difference”, Readytex Art Gallery, Suriname
  • 2018 25th Anniversary exhibition of Readytex Art Gallery, Suriname
  • 2017 Suriname Art Expo 2017, Umana Yana, Georgetown, Guyana
  • 2017 TNF of August ”Pe un’ moksi kon na wan”, Readytex Art Gallery, Suriname
  • 2016 TNF “Caged”, Readytex Art Gallery, Suriname
  • 2016-2017 One Bare Foot Square Uncooked traveling art project, Different Countries
  • 2015 Opening exhibition new location Readytex Art Gallery, Suriname
  • 2014 Circus Terminal, international traveling exhibition, De Hal, Suriname
  • 2013 Exhibition 20 years Readytex Art Gallery, De Hal, Suriname
  • 2012 Solo “Short Stories”, Surinaams Museum at Fort Zeelandia, Suriname
Artist works

Readytex Exhibitions