Minor (triptych)

Visa Gold Art Award were held at the City Gallery Wellington, from 13 August to 5 September 1994.^[1] The awards was the biggest art prize in New Zealand at the time. 1994 was the only year where there were two winners of the Premier Award, Fong was joint-winners of the Premier Award with Bill Hammond.^[2]

This triptych is representative of her artistic practice, exploring delicate surfaces that may stem from her background as a textile designer. During this period, Fong created her paintings on doors, giving them a relatable scale in relation to the human body. The doors are adorned with blots, stains, and holes, creating a dynamic visual experience that never allows the viewer's eye to rest. These elements contribute to a distinctive fluidity in her work, which is intentionally perceived as feminine, especially in contrast to the hard-edge abstraction often associated with her male predecessors. The musical title reinforces the emotional response elicited from the viewer.^[1][3]

Fong and Bill Hammond can be seen posing together in a photograph in The Press newspaper about the Visa Gold Art Awards.^[4] Fong and Minor can be seen in The Dominion newspaper.^[5]

The painting was also part of the exhibition Cultural Safety: Contemporary Art from New Zealand, in Frankfurter Kunstverein in Germany (1995), and City Gallery Wellington in New Zealand (1995–1996).^[3]

Minor is held in the collection of Fletcher Trust in Auckland, New Zealand.^[1]