Beasts and Sovereignty, 2025, Church organ utensil, acrylic, film sheet, mixed media on inkjet print paper, framed with vinyl envelope

Cheng presents a body of work titled "Beasts and Sovereignty," which further investigates appropriation and the semiotics of advertising. Drawing from an expansive and heterogeneous array of materials—including everyday refuse, residual markings, abrasions, propaganda slogans, anime, popular culture, and conspiracy discourses—she carefully organizes these elements within poster-sized trading card binders. This unconventional format critically examines systems of manipulation and dissemination. Through physical film masking techniques, Cheng explores the liminal space between reality and artificiality, interrogating the credibility of visual and ideological constructs. Each trading card, poter, or masked image becomes a vessel, encapsulating layered and open-ended significations. Cheng’s practice resonates with The Carrier Bag Theory, a concept articulated by Ursula K. Le Guin as a counter-narrative to the traditional hero’s tale. Le Guin proposed the "carrier bag" as humanity’s first cultural artifact—a tool for gathering and holding, rather than for conquest. Similarly, Cheng’s works act as vessels that gather, hold, and reveal the multiplicity of stories shaping our collective existence. Through this lens, she redefines what it means to carry and create, celebrating the overlooked and mundane as powerful agents of meaning.