ming wong: Dance of the sun on the water/Saltatio solis in aqua

At this special Members’ screening and conversation, see 2025 National Gallery Artist in Residence Ming Wong’s new film ‘Dance of the sun on the water/Saltatio solis in aqua’.

Contemporary projects curator, Priyesh Mistry, then joins BFI curator, artists’ moving image, William Fowler, to discuss Wong’s art and the rich history in which it sits.

Wong’s film was inspired by Saint Sebastian, a Roman soldier who secretly converted to Christianity and was martyred for his faith. He has inspired artists across generations, including 14 works in our collection, from the Pollaiuolo brothers to Gerrit van Honthurst.

Set inside the National Gallery itself, the film draws on representations of the saint and the landmark film ‘Sebastiane’ (1976) by British filmmaker Derek Jarman.  

Watch Ming Wong’s work, hear Priyesh and William’s insights, and join the online discussion.

William Fowler joined the BFI in 2005 as the archive’s first dedicated curator of artists’ moving image. Since then he has undertaken a number of film restoration projects, seasons and DVD releases, including GAZWRX: the films of Jeff Keen, Queer Pagan Punk: Derek Jarman (the largest ever Jarman retrospective) and This Is Now: Film and Video After Punk, currently touring internationally through LUX. He co-conceived and co-programmed with Vic Pratt the popular monthly programme The Flipside and regularly contributes to the BFI Flipside Blu Rays and DVDs. He programmes the monthly BFI Southbank Experimenta strand and the Experimenta Mixtape.

Priyesh Mistry is Associate Curator of Modern and Contemporary Projects at the National Gallery, London where he works towards an ambitious programme to integrate contemporary art within the context of the museum and its historic collections. He manages the Artists in Residency programmes and contemporary commissions. Recent projects include ‘Céline Condorelli: Pentimenti (The Corrections)’, ‘Nalini Malani: My Reality is Different’, 'Ali Cherri: If you prick us, do we not bleed?' and 'Dance to the Music of Our Time: A Live Exhibition with Hetain Patel, Florence Peake, Zadie Xa and Benito Mayor Vallejo'.

A recording of this event will be made available to all ticket holders in the days following the event.

This recording will be available for two weeks.

Automatic closed captioning is available for this event.