The Works：Mandala weaving, Little Thunder@Over the Influence & in the studio: the band Tarboosh

At its most popular during the Ottoman Era, the fez is a felt hat, usually red, often with a tassel on top, that's also known as a “tarboosh” in Turkish. It's still worn not only across the Middle East, the Mediterranean, and Asia but also by members of certain masonic groups in the United States. Later on the show, we'll be joined by a band called “Tarboosh” who took their name from this item of head gear.

Mandalas are geometric configurations of symbols often used in religious and spiritual practice. You may be most used to seeing them in Asian traditions, but they are also common in Central and South America in the Aztec and Mayan traditions. One Hong Kong artist in particular, is drawing on the tradition of a yarn mandala known as the Ojo de Dios.

Comic artist and illustrator, Cheng Sum-ling is known as Little Thunder. Her ink and watercolour subjects are inspired by Japanese manga, American pin-ups, and Hong Kong culture. Her characters are a representation of feminine sexuality, empowerment, and whimsicality. On show at Over the Influence gallery until Christmas Eve, “Reality Dropout” is Little Thunder’s first solo exhibition. She says the 12 new paintings on show seek to take viewers away from reality, and encourage them to realise that the lines between reality and the imagination are getting increasingly blurred.