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‘Women are used as sex objects’: an artist on losing her virginity, beating Instagram’s censors and growing up ‘super Catholic’

Hong Kong artist Claudia Chanhoi’s strict Catholic upbringing caused her to feel guilty about losing her virginity while still unmarried, at 22 years of age

She tells Kate Whitehead about how that inspired her artwork, how she manoeuvres around Instagram’s censorship and the sexual harassment she has faced

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Claudia Chanhoi is an artist whose work focuses on female sexuality. She speaks to Kate Whitehead. Photo: K. Y. Cheng

Published: 1:15pm, 9 Oct 2022

I was born in Hong Kong in 1990. My dad owns a law book company, my mum worked at the law faculty at Hong Kong University and my older sister studied law, so the whole family was in the legal industry. I am different.

I was baptised and grew up super Catholic, I went to a Catholic all-girls school, St Clare’s Girls’ School, and we were taught by nuns. The school was very strict, our dress had to cover our knees, there were rules about how we could wear our hair and definitely no make-up or dating. We weren’t allowed to go to the supermarket in our uniform.

That environment could be quite tough on girls, you could be called a whore if your skirt was too short.

On Sundays, I went to Sunday school and then mass at the Hong Kong Catholic Cathedral on Caine Road. It was three hours every Sunday and I didn’t really enjoy it because as a child I didn’t understand what the father was saying.

Chanhoi’s mum’s side of the family. The kids are having their confirmation on that day. Her mum (the infant who is being held by her grandma, upper right) is being baptised. Photo: Claudia Chanhoi

Early discovery

I started painting when I was very young and told my mum I wanted to be a painter. She is really supportive of what I do and happily went with me to buy all the art supplies I needed.

Chanhoi and her mum on her 2nd or 3rd birthday. Photo: Claudia Chanhoi