Jacky Cheng’s paper art very much relies on her layering techniques. “I often regard the style as a topographic technique, as they really do resemble the natural layers of our environment,” explained the Australian based relief paper cut artist in an interview with Strictly Paper.
Born in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, she received her Bachelor of Architecture from the University of New South Wales, Sydney, but decided to put architecture on hold and pursued her love for creating art in smaller scales. She has since amalgamated both architectonic and visual language using papers and fibers as the predominant mediums in her practice.
“The idea of layering became more apparent when I started to draw with my penknife,” she says. This process includes cutting and layering one layer after another, “no drawn plans, no guide, just the knife, paper, and glue.”
Each work begins with a piece of paper, sometimes a large sheet of paper layering inwards, other times a tiny piece of paper (most often an offcut piece from previous work), which she then works outwards. But most often than not it’s a combination of both – inwards and outwards layering – depending on what the design needs.
Take a look at some of her intricate paper worlds:
