Golden Gate is a bold statement about the female body and female experience -- one that is rarely addressed in what is still a largely conservative society. The piece comprises a gold-coloured soft sculpture: a blown-up representation of the vulva. Gold is associated with numerous positive qualities in Burmese culture, including religiosity and wealth, elevating what is otherwise an unmentioned and unmentionable part of the female anatomy to the point of reverence. Within the sculpture is a television playing images of the cosmos taken from NASA satellites, paired with ultrasound footage of the artist’s daughter as a fetus, the twinning reflecting Nge Lay’s feelings of being connected to the greater universe whilst pregnant. Here, the symbol for female fertility is also an all-powerful portal and a metaphor for creative power.

Nge Lay (b. 1979, Pyin Oo Lwin, Mandalay division, Myanmar) is one of Myanmar’s most prolific female contemporary artists. Trained in painting and economics, she has, since the late 2000s, carved out a career in performance, photography and installation. Her work frequently examines the social histories of her native Myanmar and the difficult circumstances under which the Burmese have long had to operate. She has exhibited extensively, including at the 4th Singapore Biennale (2013) and After Darkness: Southeast Asian Art in the Wake of History at the Asia Society Museum in New York (2017).