By: Tabish Khan
When did we decide that pink belonged to one gender? Why is it so often associated with femininity? These questions lie at the heart of Qingyuan Liang’s The Pink Man – a portrait that gently explores gender politics from a place of love and understanding.
This oil painting invites us to see tenderness as a form of courage. The figure seems to emerge from a pale pink background, ghostly and ephemeral, yet still present. It serves as a metaphor for our identities – sometimes clearly defined, sometimes uncertain, and ever-evolving. It captures a universal experience that many of us face, balancing between who we are told to be and who we truly are.
Photo Courtesy: Chuhui Liu (The Pink Man, Qingyuan Liang, 2025, Exhibition View of ‘On Observation’, 1215 Gallery, Montreal, Canada.)
Liang draws inspiration from her friendship with a Muslim man, prompting a question that resonates with many men: What role do they occupy in society today? Masculinity is re-imagined not as sheer strength, but as a space of vulnerability and possibility, one that is more about who men could be rather than the limitations society often places on them.
This portrait invites us to reconsider how we’ve been taught to perceive gender, identity, and belonging. It challenges us to examine our assumptions about what strength looks like and what it costs to express tenderness in a world that often values toughness. In this work, Liang asks whether there is another way to perceive one another—one where we move past assumptions based on gender.
For Liang, navigating her Chinese heritage and British life, identity is something she experiences daily. Therefore, it feels as though her personal journey is woven into this piece, alongside that of the sitter.
Photo Courtesy: Chuhui Liu (The Pink Man, Qingyuan Liang, 2025, Exhibition View of ‘On Observation’, 1215 Gallery, Montreal, Canada.)
Liang has chosen to work on wood rather than canvas, and this choice feels inherently connected to the subject matter. Wood carries its own history as the remnant of a living being, whose identity has shifted—from its early growth as a sapling to its later form as a tree that was cut down.
Modern masculinity is undeniably an important and ongoing conversation in today’s society, and it would be interesting to see this work expanded into a series, exploring men in various societal roles – including those in traditionally masculine professions. A series of these pink portraits could deepen the resonance of Liang’s concept and bring a fuller realization to the potential of this artwork.
Currently, The Pink Man is on view as part of “On Observation” at 1215 Gallery, Montreal, Canada. This group exhibition brings together emerging international works that explore the act of looking, perception, and the cultural codes that shape how we understand others. The exhibition examines the notion that observation is never neutral—it is always influenced by identity and power structures. Liang’s work feels particularly significant in this context. By placing The Pink Man alongside other practices that question visibility, vulnerability, and representation, the exhibition highlights how art can serve as a tool for rethinking how we engage with differences in our daily lives.
About the Artist
Qingyuan Liang is a Chinese illustrator and visual storyteller based in the UK. Her artistic practice blends hand-drawn illustration, drawing, and book arts, often unfolding across picture books, graphic novels, and zines. With a distinctive emotional sensitivity and quiet poeticism, her work explores themes of memory, solitude, healing, and gentle transformation.
Her images are not merely representations but emotional topographies—spaces shaped by memory, inner landscapes, and intimate observation. Often working through long-form visual narratives, she addresses themes such as transience, mourning, solitude, and tenderness. Her practice is patient and intuitive, unfolding slowly and with care. In her works, gentleness becomes a form of resistance, and softness a space for reflection.
Educated in the UK, Liang’s work has been showcased in international art book fairs and is held in collections by institutions such as Rosslyn Hill Chapel and Gosh! Comics, London. Her artistic language fluidly navigates between drawing, storytelling, and the poetics of the everyday, grounded in emotional truth and open to quiet transformation.
