Neither Named Nor Erased: Language as Resistance in
the Works of Rocío Con Hong
 

Text by Fernanda Hong​

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In a world governed by systems of classification—linguistic, visual, cultural—that constantly seek to categorize bodies and identities, Rocío Con Hong unfolds a practice that pushes against the boundaries of what can be said, seen, and represented. Through a hybrid approach that combines abstract painting, Dymo tape, and conceptual procedures Ms. Con Hong strives to provide us with new perspectives.

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These gestures, subtle yet deeply political, resonate with feminist critiques of language, which have long pointed to the ways patriarchal systems have restricted what women can say, be, or write. But Con Hong does more than expose these structures—she reclaims and de-constructs them. In her work it becomes a space where language no longer classifies but opens, unsettles, resists. Her paintings are an example of how conceptual art and abstraction intersect and can live together.

 

The use of Dymo tape, a tool traditionally used for labeling and categorizing, contrasts with the fluidity of painting while establishing a unique dialogue between order and chaos, structure and expression. The Dymo tape creates labels but Ms. Con Hong uses the labels not to passively accept them, but to interrogate them. This speaks to the artist’s ability to transform both materiality and form into emotional, political and intellectual experiences that challenge the viewer.

 

Ms. Con Hong explores the intersection of abstraction, written language, and conceptual art as means to transform the act of classification into something deeply significant and symbolic. The artist subverts the purpose of labelling into a profound and poetical exploration of language, resistance, and the preservation of identity in the face of systemic control.

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Defying systemic restraint

 

In "Even When the Sand Enters, the Red Squares Remain Intact", the artist evokes themes of resilience, impermanence, and dialogue. The image of sand entering a space suggests the inevitability of change, erosion, and the slow, often uncontrollable influence of external forces. Yet, the red squares—a central formal element of the work—remain intact, symbolizing a resistant force that withstands these external pressures. The piece actively pushes against the idea of total transformation or dissolution. Even as "sand" (which could represent time, change, or external pressures like colonialism, patriarchy, or displacement) enters the frame, the red squares remain intact, suggesting that some elements of personal, cultural, or political identity can endure despite attempts at homogenization, loss or trauma. The red squares do not simply stand as a static image but as a site of negotiation, where the internal and external forces of identity meet.​

 

The right to self-definition

 

From a feminist perspective, the work also comments on the female resistance to patriarchal or societal pressures. Despite the forces attempting to erode or transform it (the sand), the square—representing female identity, struggle and resilience—remains intact. In this way, the painting highlights the importance of struggling against the forces that seek to diminish, erase, or reshape women's identities, suggesting that there are core aspects of their experience that are resistant to external pressures.

 

This speaks directly to the interrogation of language from a feminist perspective: how patriarchal systems have historically defined and limited what women can say, be, or name. Yet Rocío Con Hong’s work insists that even within these inherited structures, language is not discarded, but reclaimed and de-territorialized. Through one’s presence, through the refusal to disappear, one claims the right to self-definition, to exist, to speak (or not speak), to paint, to write, to gesture abstractly—these become acts of resistance through the refusal to disappear.