XXX_03 examines the body as a site of control, transformation, and desire, shaped by the pressures of self-idealisation and the social codes that enforce them. A latex form, sensuous yet synthetic, is stretched, pierced, and constrained within an unyielding steel frame. Its hourglass silhouette evokes the tension between submission and resistance, confronting the violence of internalised ideals. Alluding to historical mechanisms of bodily control used to discipline, disguise and eroticise, the work interrogates how identity is constructed through systems of body fetishisation, self-surveillance, and self-design.
Positioned low to the ground, the sculpture extends an invitation: to kneel before it and partake in its deformation by pulling the tension cables - offering a gesture of release from its contorted form.
Chantelle Chong is a Singapore-born multidisciplinary designer based in London. Working fluidly across both digital and physical media, her practice spans 2D and 3D forms including installation, drawing, animation, film, and object-making. She approaches the intersection of architectural language and technology as a lens through which to confront the soft boundaries of the body and the nuances of lived experience. Her sculpture XXX_03 was previously exhibited at BASE Milano as part of Milan Design Week 2025.
Chong is currently pursuing a Master’s in Architecture at the Royal College of Art and holds a Bachelor’s in Architecture from The Bartlett School of Architecture, UCL.
