Liyen Chong received her MFA from the University of Canterbury in New Zealand and regularly exhibits in her adopted home country of New Zealand and abroad. Her works are included in prominent public and private collections in New Zealand and Australia, such as the National Gallery of Australia in Canberra, University of Canterbury Art Collection and the Chartwell Collection in New Zealand. She is the recipient of multiple artist residencies including the McCahon House Artists’ Residency in New Zealand (2011), artist-in-residence programs at the National Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art Korea in Seoul, South Korea (2012), and Cemeti Art House in Yogyakarta, Indonesia (2015). In 2014, Chong was awarded a solo show surveying her work, at Papakura Art Gallery.
Chong was born in Malaysia and moved to New Zealand in her mid-teens, where she lived for the next two decades. Since 2016, she has been based in Houston, Texas after spending extended periods of time living and traveling in various cities in Asia and Europe.
Currently based in Houston, Texas, Chong is represented in Auckland, New Zealand by Melanie Roger Gallery.
Alongside her artistic practice, Chong is a community organizer and arts advocate. In 2020 she co-founded Arts Accountability Houston and she is an active organizing member of More Than Grant Writers.