Post by NZBC on Aug 10, 2008 8:32:39 GMT 12
New exhibition explores Chinese settlement in New Zealand
August marks the opening of a new Wellington exhibition entitled Home Made: Picturing Chinese Settlement in New Zealand by Kerry Ann Lee, the recipient of an Asia:NZ Emerging Researcher Grant in 2007. The exhibition has evolved from a 60-page, full-colour hard-bound illustrated book and written thesis by Kerry Ann Lee for her Master's in Design at Massey University.
¡°Paper is evocative and versatile in its potential to communicate,¡± says Ms Lee. ¡°A blank page is ripe with possibility for playful invention.¡± Home Made is an alternative cultural history in three parts, told through visual metaphors of gold, the bowl, and the lantern.
Kerry Ann Lee¡¯s work focuses on the Cantonese Diaspora in New Zealand: in this case, artistic explorations of images of restaurants and caf¨¦s in Wellington in the 1950s¨C1980s as a realisation of early dreams of settlement. Through cut-paper collage, the book has endeavoured to challenge existing stereotypes and colonial representations of Chinese people in New Zealand.
www.asianz.org.nz/research/socialresearch/homemade-exhibition
The project expanded out of its academic framework into the forthcoming exhibition as a vehicle for broader storytelling on Chinese settlement in New Zealand. The timing of the exhibition, to coincide with the Beijing Olympics, will offer a different Chinese perspective, one that is local and that focuses on stories and experiences unique to New Zealand.
The event is linked to another topical milestone on the Chinese calendar: August is the Ghost Month, culminating in the Ghost Festival (15 August). During this time, spirits of ancestors emerge from the lower world to visit the living. Many such unsung ancestors will be commemorated in Kerry Ann¡¯s exhibition, inviting a more critical understanding of Chinese-New Zealand culture and identity.
¡°I am compelled to make art that that is both expressive and socially responsive to the world,¡± explains Ms Lee. ¡°Asia NZ's Emerging Researcher Grant has enabled me to develop the project to a stage where the wider community is invited to directly and effectively engage with the work first-hand¡±.
Home Made: Picturing Chinese Settlement in New Zealand runs 1-22 August 2008 at Toi Poneke Arts Centre, 61 Abel Smith St, Wellington. Visitors are invited to a Q&A session with Kerry Ann Lee at 6.00 p.m. on Thursday 14 August.
Find out more about the Emerging Researcher Grant and other research grants available from Asia:NZ. You can also explore Asia:NZ¡¯s culture funding guidelines.
Images of Home Made: Picturing Chinese Settlement in New Zealand:
August marks the opening of a new Wellington exhibition entitled Home Made: Picturing Chinese Settlement in New Zealand by Kerry Ann Lee, the recipient of an Asia:NZ Emerging Researcher Grant in 2007. The exhibition has evolved from a 60-page, full-colour hard-bound illustrated book and written thesis by Kerry Ann Lee for her Master's in Design at Massey University.
¡°Paper is evocative and versatile in its potential to communicate,¡± says Ms Lee. ¡°A blank page is ripe with possibility for playful invention.¡± Home Made is an alternative cultural history in three parts, told through visual metaphors of gold, the bowl, and the lantern.
Kerry Ann Lee¡¯s work focuses on the Cantonese Diaspora in New Zealand: in this case, artistic explorations of images of restaurants and caf¨¦s in Wellington in the 1950s¨C1980s as a realisation of early dreams of settlement. Through cut-paper collage, the book has endeavoured to challenge existing stereotypes and colonial representations of Chinese people in New Zealand.
www.asianz.org.nz/research/socialresearch/homemade-exhibition
The project expanded out of its academic framework into the forthcoming exhibition as a vehicle for broader storytelling on Chinese settlement in New Zealand. The timing of the exhibition, to coincide with the Beijing Olympics, will offer a different Chinese perspective, one that is local and that focuses on stories and experiences unique to New Zealand.
The event is linked to another topical milestone on the Chinese calendar: August is the Ghost Month, culminating in the Ghost Festival (15 August). During this time, spirits of ancestors emerge from the lower world to visit the living. Many such unsung ancestors will be commemorated in Kerry Ann¡¯s exhibition, inviting a more critical understanding of Chinese-New Zealand culture and identity.
¡°I am compelled to make art that that is both expressive and socially responsive to the world,¡± explains Ms Lee. ¡°Asia NZ's Emerging Researcher Grant has enabled me to develop the project to a stage where the wider community is invited to directly and effectively engage with the work first-hand¡±.
Home Made: Picturing Chinese Settlement in New Zealand runs 1-22 August 2008 at Toi Poneke Arts Centre, 61 Abel Smith St, Wellington. Visitors are invited to a Q&A session with Kerry Ann Lee at 6.00 p.m. on Thursday 14 August.
Find out more about the Emerging Researcher Grant and other research grants available from Asia:NZ. You can also explore Asia:NZ¡¯s culture funding guidelines.
Images of Home Made: Picturing Chinese Settlement in New Zealand: