AMY CHEN, ANJIA ZHOU, ANNY CHEN, BOWEN ZHANG, IRINI (YANYU) CHEN, JIAQI LIU, JIAYI LI, JUNHAO XIANG, PEIHAN LI, HOMER (PENG) WANG, QINTIAN LIU, SHIYA LU, RAINNE (YUYANG) ZENG
CURATED BY CLAIRE (YUTING) XIE
(2021)
易 YI
The art exhibition YI (pronounced as ‘e’ in English), presented by the University of Sydney China Development Society (CDS), will be held from 31 October to 31 December 2021. This exhibition is themed by "Change", "Simpleness" and "Amiability", and explores the abundant implications and manifold dimensionality of Chinese culture in the context of contemporary art and modern society. The exhibition presents artworks from 13 emerging student artists: Amy Chen, Anjia Zhou, Anny Chen, Bowen Zhang, Homer (Peng) Wang, Irini (Yanyu) Chen, Jiaqi Liu, Jiayi Li, Junhao Xiang, Peihan Li, Qintian Liu, Rainne (Yuyang) Zeng and Shiya Lu. Through focusing on the Covid-19 experience, the background of Chinese culture, and the community of international students, the exhibition aims to give voice to student artists with Chinese background and to arouse a life experience that transcends cultural boundaries.
The exhibition title is twofold. In the literal sense, the theme of the exhibition YI is taken from the book “Yi Jing” (or “I Ching”). As one of the ancient classics of the Chinese nation and the origins of Chinese traditional culture, Yi Jing expounds the law of change that governs everything – objects, people, situations, and so on – in the world. From understanding “Simpleness” as the basis of all things, to how individuals reconcile themselves when facing “Changes” in life, then learning how to get along with others through “Amiability”, Yi Jing promotes respect and courtesy in the whole society. From a broader perspective, YI epitomises a shared artistic experience across cultures. Through revealing the multitudinous interactions and resonance with Chinese and Western art and culture, the exhibition demonstrates the universal power and appeal of art that reaches straight to the soul.
As visitors explore the exhibition, they will discover works of art, admire the diverse range of materials presented, and encounter stories and moods embodied in the materials. A majority of exhibiting artists are incorporating their own experience of studying or living overseas into artistic practice to probe into their own cultural identity when being exposed to both Chinese and Western culture. Some are using their own body as medium concerning the topics of family relationship, societal issues and traditional oriental philosophy. Others are using paint, coloured pencil, digital print, photography, as well as objects from daily life and nature to pay their own tribute to the Chinese culture. The once seemingly opposite and different Chinese and Western culture are reconciled as a whole to be appreciated, just as the law of unity of opposites demonstrated in Yi Ching suggests.
YI is only a snapshot of the emotional and living situations experienced by the young generation. The exhibition serves as a starting point, rather than a destination, for an artistic journey into the lives of youngsters around us. We hope the exhibition can provide visitors with a tangible warm presence of amiability and solicitude among people at this very moment and there is always a simplest way out of all complexity and toughness.
Curator: Claire (Yuting) Xie
ANNY CHEN
“CHINA - FABRIC OF SUCCESS”
Anny Chen, China - Fabric of Success, 2020, Photography, 400 x 300 mm
ARTIST STATEMENT
China – Fabric of Success is an artwork consisting of two reproduced photographs (which document the artist’s original textile multimedia works made of fabric splicing). Anny Chen explores China’s global social and economic progress through this artwork and probes into the concept of ‘Change’. The comparisons and alterations in the textile techniques, colour palettes, details of the clothes between the two figures reflect changes in Chinese political propaganda, technology, social structure from an agrarian society to an industrialised powerhouse.
Anny Chen, China - Fabric of Success, photography, 400 x 300 mm, 2020,
Visual contrasts are also abundantly palpable in the two photographs, calling on the audience to explore freely. The colour palettes change from red and warm tone to blue and cold tone, suggesting the transformation in Chinese society from high communism to today’s gradual industrialism. The compositions of the original work on the top, including woven plastic from rice bags, hand embroidery with images of pink Peony (Chinese national flower), woven straws, fabrics imprinted with images and catchwords from the 'Great Leap Forward' and 'Cultural Revolution', together intuitively insinuating political patriotism and social structure in China from around 1950-1970s. However, the bottom photograph draws a sharp distinction - it contains metal shards, computer motherboard, metal wires, hand embroidery with much more modern and abstract elements, signifying diversification and modernisation brought by the ‘Reform and Opening-up’. The embedded transformation implied by the clothing of the two figures echoes with the subtle changes in the facial expressions delineated by oil paints and plaster, suggesting macro ‘changes’ in China’s society as well as micro ‘changes’ in the attitudes and feelings of the general and the artist herself can perceive towards our daily social life.
AMY CHEN
“CHAOS”
Amy Chen, Chaos, acrylic on canvas, 400 x 400 mm, 2021.
ARTIST STATEMENT
Chaos intends to represent an obfuscated and complicated mental state of individuals triggered by the societal changes. It's a demonstration of anxiety and depression arising from our sense of powerlessness to fight against the changes from external environment.
The strike of COVID-19 at the beginning of 2020 clicked on the 'pause' button and forced alterations and adaptions for everyone involved. The fizzy and giddy feelings fermented through compromises with the real world caught the attention of Amy Chen. It guides her to take a journey to her own mental world, to consciously listen to and record every subtle emotional leaping and change. The unique use of only two colours randomly and disorderly interweaving with each other implies the chaotic interactions between society and individual. The square frame, however, restrains the extension of chaos, symbolising the limitations and regulations imposed on individuals by society. An emphasis is placed on the irreversible and unstoppable 'Changes' and also individual's struggles and reconciliations associated with them. Chaos is also a manifesto to urge the "return to human ultimate origin", encouraging the audience to listen to and care for their exclusive feelings and emotional changes.
ANJIA ZHOU
”CONNECTION”
Anjia Zhou, Connection, fine point pen, coloured pencil, 400 x 500 mm, 2020.
ARTIST STATEMENT
In a time where social media has become the primary connection between people and society, reality and individuals are gradually lost in a 'virtual' environment. "You have received a WeChat message" has gradually become a connection between people but with lack of in-person interaction. Connection exhibits a girl with empty eyes struggling in a notification bomb, who does not have an actual body but a set of skeletons. The lotus with stems intertwining underneath and sparrows standing on top visualize a dynamic interaction and duality between life and death. Snippets of The Heart Sutra looming in the background reveal the emptiness within the girl's spiritual world.
The girl in this painting seems to have struggled in the middle of emerging in a dreamy virtual space while being trapped by the empty self in reality at the same time. What is virtual? What is real? This is an issue raised by Anjia to the society. The connection between people is always changing as the Yi Ching suggests, the only thing that does not change is change itself. It should always be remembered that no matter in what form and medium, the amiability and solicitude between people will always stay real.
BOWEN ZHANG
”TRADE”
Bowen Zhang, Trade, video, 2020.
ARTIST STATEMENT
In response to the financial crisis impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic, Trade is an experimental work that presents the conflictual mental state of the younger generation under the current economic climate. As the exhibition YI focuses on the ever-changing dynamic in the world, the artist utilises digital media to explore the ongoing tensions between control and freedom, stability and change, financial reliance and independence. Through the technique of digital collage, the artist first deconstructs himself into multiple windows, and then synthesizes with the images of the stock market to perform simultaneous actions of trading stocks online in order to reconstruct a narrative of young people trying to gain financial autonomy during the pandemic.
Conceptually, with the action of 'trade' being the singular thread that interweaves the narrative, this simple concept is also used to criticise the culture of consumerism and the manipulative power relation between two trade parties. In Chinese culture, 'red pocket' is more than just a generous gift at special occasions, but also a symbol of financial power that can manipulate one's purchasing decisions. Whilst the 'red pocket' symbolises a passive form of receiving stable income from parents in traditional Chinese culture, stock-trading indicates an active way for young people to earn income in the contemporary consumerist culture. Therefore, by juxtaposing these two concepts, it not only emphasises the generational shift in the perspective towards financial wealth, but also proposes the moral dilemma for young people to make financial decisions between stability and unpredictability.
HOMER (PENG) WANG
”A MANNEQUINS FUNERAL”
Homer (Peng) Wang, A Mannequin’s Funeral, mannequin, newspaper, curtain, cotton, 70 x 80 x 300 mm, 2021,
ARTIST STATEMENT
A Mannequin's Funeral is an installation artwork consisting of a scaled-down mannequin covered and entwined with fragments of newspapers and a set of photographs showcasing the details of the mannequin being hung above it, engendering an atmosphere of narrating some untold story.
This artwork represents the harm that contemporary multitudinous public opinions and slanders can bring to people. Peng Wang's unique use and processing of newspapers is trying to show that the fast development of multimedia entitles people, especially netizens, the manifold accesses to massive information and the unprecedented sense of anonymity. Seemingly, it grants them the power to exert harmful discourse on anyone without considering the reliability of the information they have absorbed. Nevertheless, the vague human-like traits of Mannequin demonstrate a process of dehumanization, where the executors of verbal violence and reckless accusations treat the accused subjects more like emotion-venting objects than human beings.
Peng originated this idea from the special period of COVI D-19, when the public opinion was in chaos and we were easily overwhelmed with myriads of information around us. The false information across the society had a serious impact on people, and even those heroes such as the ophthalmologist Li Wenliang (1) who stood out to tell the truth and ringed the bell to inform the society of the upcoming epidemic of Covid-19 were slandered. According to Freud, 'With words, one man can make another blessed, or drive him to despair.' Individuals' emotions are very easy to be driven just by pieces of external factors. In this artwork, the stack of all the detailed parts of the human body registers a sense of despair one can perceive and be forced to endure as a result of the misleading information, vilified slanders and rumours coming from and being spread over the public.
Peng intends to call on the audience to raise the awareness towards the verdict of information. The only colourful piece of the heart reflects the fresh expressions from the human. Peng encourages the right of free expression and the consciousness of being humanitarian with people behind the words. This aligns with the exhibition theme of 'Simpleness': think freely, think simple, and don't be flummoxed with complexity. It also accentuates the exhibition theme of 'Amiability' through the outcry of being polite, friendly and caring in the daily interactions with other individuals in the contemporary society and community.
(1) Learn the story and more information of the 'whistleblower' Li Wenliang here, accessed June 19, 2021, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Li Wenliang
IRINI (YANYU) CHEN
”CHAOS”
Irini (Yanyu) Chen, Chaos, photograph, 400 x 500 mm, 2020,
ARTIST STATEMENT
Simple, original, natural, soft, comfortable, wrapped, warm, messy, changing, chaotic. CHAOS is an interactive installation artwork created by artist lrini Chen through disintegrating the twine and gathering the jute synchronously.
Jute comes from nature with no gorgeous and vivid colour. With the simplest and most natural colour just as the soil, jute twine product is always associated with simplicity and rusticity, reminding people of the oblivious and distant memories of nature in the modern fortress-like society built of reinforced concrete.
Transforming the fixed and original form into a variable form, lrini decomposes the orderly twine with uncertainty, embodying a chaotic mystery of nature. This artwork assimilates the essence of the Chinese classic Yi Ching and visualises it in the way as the American writer and translator Eliot Weinberger described, "a continually shifting cloud". Yi Ching, interpreted as the Book of Change, stating that there is nobody who stays the same perpetually and there is nothing in the universe that is eternally constant. All beings are developing and changing with impermanence. Symbolizing complete confusion and disorder, Chaos itself is an elusive mystery that is changing.
Chaos is also the state and origin of the universe before any order. The audience are encouraged to lie on it to feel the natural touch of jute, curling up in a posture as if hiding in the womb, which is the origin and birth passage of all lives, resonating with the spirituality of protection and meditation embedded in chaos. The soft and natural pile of jute thread registers a sense of 'Amiability', cocooning substance into a snug and warm embrace. The essence of Chinese culture, "using softness to conquer strength", is conveyed through the artwork.
JIAQI LIU
”VOLCANO’S SECRET”
Jaiqi Liu, Volcano's Secret, photograph, 505 x 707 mm, 2019.
ARTIST STATEMENT
The Volcano's Secret is a series of photographs that document different drains over time, implicitly exhibiting the unshakable connection between fertility, maternity and nature. Jiaqi Liu documents the moments and processes of drying up, moisturizing and the rebirth of life from the power of nature and time. As an ephemeral landscape, the continuously mutilated drain that looks like a female birth canal further presents the constant self-development of the female body and identities in the contemporary world. The traditional Chinese culture casts much light on the greatness of motherhood, but the discourse about maternal devotions and sacrifices has been constrained by patriarchy rhetoric. Although the birth process is always accompanied by pain, females use their body to internalise the pain and transform it into power to breed for new vitality and function the evolution of life. However, such graciousness seems to be deliberately ignored by the society, where the silenced pain and consequent dedications haven't come into public's spotlight in Chinese society until the recent arousal of feminism awareness among Chinese women.
Volcano's Secret, photograph, 505 x 707 mm, 2019.
The artist questions on how the role of fertility and maternity have evolved with the very phenomenon that female voice has always been silenced and ignored. Jiaqi's photographs suggest the perception of 'Change' from Yi Ching does not only imply the Chinese culture's interactions with societal development but also show women's trend and intention to shift from 'the other' to 'the subject' of the society. From a seemingly objective perspective by documenting scenes of 'vagina-like' drains, the artwork registers a forceful feminine voice that the vulva space can be vividly charming and expressive. Moreover, the contemporary audience should also alter their perspectives on viewing the principles of life and the role of femininity by acknowledging that females can express and explore their bodies with their own willing and for their own purpose.
Volcano's Secret, photograph, 505 x 707 mm, 2019.
JIAYI LI
“EMPTINESS”
Jiayi Li, Emptiness, video, 2020.
ARTIST STATEMENT
Responding to the theme of the exhibition YI, Emptiness is a video art that addresses the individual experience of nihilism when coping with changes during the pandemic. In comparison with a majority of the exhibited artworks, this video art is presented with a peaceful and joyful atmosphere, having the soothing effect to calm our heart and refresh our mind while calling on people to slow down and take a rest in this rapid and everchanging age full of challenges and unexpectedness.
Trapped in these 'empty' moments in life, Jiayi began to notice the subtleties in her surroundings. By interweaving the sound of wind chimes into the conversational narration, a call of nature is perceived and intrigues a resonating note among the audience, asking us to return back to the essentials of life. Drifting from the real world surrounded by multitudinous people and the fast-paced life crammed with trivia and affairs, instead, for just a moment, listen to the rain, enjoy the sunshine, taste a cup of tea, relax and treat yourself. With the mentality of being sensitive and curious about the surrounding and nature, serendipity and happiness will always find you with the warmest embrace, sheltering you from the tedious and tumultuous time.
With the syncing and alternating of wind chimes in a gentle breeze, this video art depicts a pleasant melody composed by the nature and is a gift the exhibition YI prepares for all the audience.
This is a greeting from the artist, from the strangers, from us, from the nature:
"Are you okay?"
JUNHAO XIANG
“1-2-3-4”
Junhao Xiang, 1-2-3-4, video, 2019.
ARTIST STATEMENT
[1-2-3-4] as a performance artwork, is created as a journey of exploring the purpose of living. While contemporary dancers dancing around the lighting circle made of sand and accompanied by traditional Chinese sound music, the pursuit of self-motivation has then been triggered, considered as a portrayal of individuals seeking their paths towards the definition of self. The artist is raising the question that, why people are keep searching for the meaning of living due to their physical desire under today's social environment, whether it's the walking dead of the 'Ego' or the muttering of the 'Superego'.
Moreover, individuals mental growth is revealed through the variation of dancing movements around the bright and glorious circle, clearly illustrating the traveling process of human body from inside towards outside. The reconciliation of self was lastly achieved when the performance was ended with dancers hugging with each other inside the circle, as suggested by Yi Ching that human's complicated spiritual world could finally turn free from vulgarity, and return into the state of the original simpleness. Such growth in individual also applies to how cultural perspective has developed throughout the history, where traditional Chinese arts has experienced its own growth, and the final and unique culture is thus established.
PEIHAN LI
”FAREWELL SHASHA”
Peihan Li, Farewell Shasha, video, 2021.
ARTIST STATEMENT
Farewell ShaSha is constructed under the Reform and Opening-up background, in which the Chinese people ushered in a new era in the 80s. Pei Han's work adopts film scratching and rotoscopes old photographs to signal the vitality and dynamic changes experienced by the whole society. A piece of playful background music is also used to reinforce the collision of time and space. Images are backgrounded with white colour and black lines to fill in the outline of the individuals. Against the photograph's real setting, the fictitious white-and-black characters stand out as symbolic existence. To discover the visibilities in their absence and express the form of motions from simple one-dimensional sketches, the people are driven by the changing times, with cities developing, the economy growing, and lifestyles transforming.
This video work is practical: it creates a liminal space where people in the images are coming to life, where the past has not gone and the present is still an extension of those continued moments in individuals' life. The view that some unchanged will always be preserved from all of the changed is emphasised in this artwork.
QINTIAN LIU
“RESONANCE”
Qintian Liu, Resonance, Digital print, 400 x 400 mm each, 2021.
ARTIST STATEMENT
This set of works is called Resonance, narrating a story of youth and idealism. Through nine scenes, the artist tells the story of a young girl's struggle to discover her true self, and how she reconciles her dream with the real life. Teenagers are inherent Dionysus, craving revel and getting indulged in desire, which becomes a primitive and barbaric passion in and of themselves. The girl in this work spares no effort to show how different she is through music and thus goes on to reject life and resist what she is supposed to face. Escaping from the life, she also numbs herself with hypocrisy and cowardice hidden underneath this idealism.
What this work is trying to convey is that many young people today seem to have more and more their own ideas and are beginning to assert themselves as mavericks, not bounded by rules. Such aspirations are admirable, whilst life does not guarantee to unfold in the ideal way as they wish, instead, there is a higher possibility that they will not succeed. Young people should not use dreams or free mindsets as excuses to avoid the difficulties they are supposed to face or to resist the trials and tribulations of life. As the saying goes, "No pains, no gains".
This work is in line with the exhibition theme of 'Change'. When life does not follow the ideal path, people need to make certain changes, which does not mean giving up their dreams, but finding a more balanced way to live. This work was drawn and coloured in Photoshop. The simple, strong lines are used to express the inner emotions of the character in the picture, becoming a very unique visual language to portray the emotions of the character's inner world.
RAINNE (YUYANG) ZENG
”FOREIGN LAND”
Rainne (Yuyang) Zeng, Foreign Land, Photography, 500 x 500 mm, 2021.
ARTIST STATEMENT
The photography series Foreign Land stores the artist Rainne's fragmented, but precious memories of her hometown Xiamen during her 8 year-long overseas study in Sydney, revealing her unique angles and feelings of experiencing the two places she has lived in. In the format of overlapping still images through double exposure, the snow, the smoke, the fog, and the sea are captured by the camera eye, superimposed on the moments and daily scenes she experienced during the study period in Sydney. Foreign Land series display her most memorable moments and features throughout her growth, and hence further generates the closeness of her emotional bonding with the two different countries she has lived since the age of sixteen.
Through Rainne's utilisation of double exposure to overlap landscapes of two cities together, the feeling of every small piece of memory about her grown-up life has then been woven into a big net surrounding her. Such special duality of strangeness and familiarity is established, thus suggesting her inner chaos due to the cultural difference between her personal identity and the collective identity. This artwork is reminding viewers that, the state of loneliness is not the core obstacle that international students are dealing with while living in a foreign land, however, is more about how they still try to continue carrying and maintaining their home country's culture and heritage in their blood.
Foreign Land, Photography, 500 x 500 mm, 2021.
Against the backdrop of Covid-19, the most significant change for international students is the travel ban that restrict students who are in China from going back to Sydney to continue their study as well as those who are in Sydney from returning their hometown to reunite with their families. Both scenarios are disappointing and depressing, blurring the boundary between hometown and foreign land and making either memories of the two places distant and unreachable. The artist put forward the very question, "Where is the true hometown and what defines the foreign land?"
The once strange foreign land may have become the new 'Hometown', while the once amiable hometown may now become the unreachable 'Foreign land'.
SHIYA LU
“BUTTERFLY DREAM”
Shiya Lu, Butterfly Dream, photograph, 300 x 450 mm, 2021.
ARTIST STATEMENT
"In my dream, I was a butterfly.
I woke up ...
Did I dream of being a butterfly
Or is the butterfly now dreaming of being me?"
This Butterfly Dream series take the name from a beautiful and parabolic traditional Chinese story when Daoist philosopher Zhuangzhou, who lived around the 4th century BC, dreamed he was a butterfly, flitting and fluttering about, happy with himself and doing as he pleased. In this story, he poetically addressed the constant flux between dreaming and awakening, and between joy and melancholy. Through these surreal photographs, Shiya Lu want to reconnect and translate some personal memories and explore the bond between reality and dream.
Shiya Lu, Butterfly Dream, photograph, 300 x 450 mm, 2021.
By capturing and overlapping the moments of some instinctive movements and expressions performed by a female model, the artist juxtaposes the real with the illusory. With an aesthetic yet forceful dynamic flowing between the blurred and actual figures, an underlying struggle is symbolized yet a sense of balance and harmony is achieved simultaneously. The tension extended through the gestures seemingly demonstrate the strength and endurance one can undergo when facing the difficulties and dangers the formidable nature has brought to the whole human community. During the horrible crisis such as Covid-19, our surroundings will undergo myriads of alterations and the whole society should learn to change their attitudes and behaviors to harmoniously coexist with the exterior world just as how we should reconcile with the illusory self in our dream world. As the beautiful dream of Zhuangzhou and Yi Ching intend to illustrate, the unity between human and nature is the ultimate origin of life and the simpleness embedded is what has long been lacked by the modern world.
Shiya Lu, Butterfly Dream, photograph, 300 x 450 mm, 2021.
The strikingly red rose is rendered with a feminine yet potent charm, which can be perceived as the transformation of the beautiful butterfly, signifying and expressing the everlasting hope and resolution in any tough moment.
SHIYA LU
“WISH BY THE SEA”
Shiya Lu, Wish by the Sea, 2020, Video art
ARTIST STATEMENT
Wish by the Sea is a two-channel video installation which documents Shiya's personal experience of leaving home and wandering across the world for more than ten years. As the theme of the exhibition Yl focuses on the emotional and psychological experience during the pandemic, Wish by the Sea expresses the deep emotional loss and yearning for the departed family members when being away from home.
Wish by the Sea presents the storyline of the artist trying to cook a dish in her childhood memory as an attempt to reconnect with her grandmother who has already passed away. With the reference to the significance of food in Chinese culture, fish becomes the object that embodies ancestry, traditions, memories and emotions. Here, the taste of the fish becomes a thread that connects this generational relationship and the Sea becomes a place that evokes a sense of exile. Similarly, the juxtaposition of one cooking home-style fish, whilst the other seeking similar taste in China Towns also poetically presents the overseas experience of drifting between Chinese and Western Cultures and still not able to find a sense of belonging in a foreign country.
Overall, Wish by the Sea creates an intimate audio-visual narrative through the synthesis of moving images, food, sound and narration in order to express the universal experience of nostalgia and a sense of exile when living in a foreign country.
ARTIST BIOS
Verge Projects is a platform that aims to strengthen the University of Sydney community and networks through on-campus art activations. Verge Projects delivers community engaged projects led by and in collaboration with student and student groups. Stepping outside of art faculties and spaces, this program encourages inclusive and creative experiences campus wide.
