Chindia: Stories from Artists

Chindia: Stories from the Artists Family stories, inspirations and motivations

Artwork©Guo Jian. New Landscape, The Red Wedding I & II, Inkjet Pigment Print, 213cm x 152cm, 2016

Saturday, 17 February 2018 2.00pm - 4.00pm, 107 Redfern St, Redfern Anindita Banerjee • Anurendra Jegadeva • Guo Jian Lilian Lai • Lucy Wang (Ru Xi) • TextaQueen This artist talk is an accompaniment event to the Chindia exhibition, an associated event of the 2018 Sydney Chinese New Year Festival.

Exhibition from 15 - 26 February 2018 Gaffa Gallery, 281 Clarence St Sydney Monday to Friday: 10am-6pm / Saturday: 11am- 5pm / Sunday: Closed

‘Chindia’ consists of a visual art exhibition, a short film event and stories from the artists who explore issues of cultural and national identity, politics, displacement and diaspora histories.

‘Chindia’ champions the practice of the arts as a socially innovative tool to increase community engagement and participation in creating an inclusive, culturally rich, diverse and vibrant society.

China and India are two of the most populous countries in the world.

With histories which date back thousands of years, the Chinese and Indian peoples have a long history of overseas migration, maintenance of cultural identity, and socio-cultural exchange with local cultures.

Today, both countries have a large diaspora population around the world including in Australia.

As part of the ‘Chindia’ exhibition, ‘Chindia: Stories from the Diaspora’ will screen six short films from Jamaica, Malaysia, Singapore and Samoa that reveal a snapshot of the lived experiences of the Chinese and Indian diaspora communities. The short films unpacks the multiplicity of identities in culturally diverse communities, and the various ways these identities have merged, grown and intersected with other communities.

‘Chindia’ unpacks the multiplicity of migrant identities in Australia looking at the perspectives of those with Chinese and Indian heritage as a starting point.

Both these nations have a particular history of cultural intermingling as well as conflict that has shaped these migration experiences. In advocating the principles of peaceful co-existence, what can we learn from these cross-cultural connections and the implications for past, present and future engagement with First Nations and other South and East Asian peoples?

We acknowledge the traditional custodians of the lands on which this exhibition has been curated and produced. As more migrant communities settle in Australia, we want to ensure that we pay our respect to Elders, past and present and remain committed to honouring Aboriginal and Torres Straits Islander people.

Image: Anurendra Jegadeva, The Red Wedding I & II, Acrylic on printed canvas, 83.5 cm x 179 cm (Diptych), 2015 (2)

curator Kevin Bathman Malaysian-born Kevin Bathman is a designer, storyteller, curator and social change advocate based in Sydney. He is interested in using creativity to address environmental, cultural and social justice issues, and believes that the arts is an untapped avenue for catalysing change.

With a Chinese/Indian ancestry, Kevin has been researching the history, connections and crosscultural stories between the Chinese and Indian culture for his project, The Chindian Diaries.

EMCEE Claudia Chan Shaw Born and raised in Sydney, Claudia Chan Shaw has many parts - fashion designer, television and radio presenter, curator, author, public speaker, collector, artist, photographer, cultural tour leader, business owner.

Claudia is Festival Curator for the City of Sydney Chinese New Year Festival 2018.

ARTISTS Anindita Banerjee Anindita Banerjee is an interdisciplinary artist, working in video, textiles, ephemeral installations and visual art juxtaposed with elements of performance. The memories of ritualistic ceremonies and mark-makings and reconstruction of them informs my practice.

Lilian Lai Lilian Lai is a Malaysian-born, Sydney-based artist whose works are predominantly ink on rice paper and her contemporary interpretation of the Chinese xie yi (literally “writing intention”) style; a spontaneous freehand style which conveys the spirit of the subject matter rather than visual realism. The rice paper and painting style is important to her heritage as a migrant to Australia of Chinese ethnicity.

Lucy Wang (Ru Xi) Lucy Wang is a Sydney-based AustralianChinese contemporary ink brush painter.

Her works depict the artistic journey into the spiritual realms often blurred by reality and imagination. Much of her works have references to ancient Chinese folklores and the dragon is a recurring metaphor that appears in her works, as a representation of her inner self: ever-changing, adaptive and ethereal.

Texta Queen (represented by Sullivan and Strumpf) Texta Queen is a visual artist known for using the humble and unforgiving medium of fibretip marker (aka ‘texta’) to articulate complex politics of race, gender, sexuality and identity; examining how visual and popular culture inform personal identity with increasing focus on the influence of ethno-cultural and colonial legacies on these dynamics.

Anurendra Jegadeva (represented by Wei-Ling Gallery) Anurendra Jegadeva is a Malaysia-born, Melbourne-based visual artist whose works is centred on breaking through political, religious and economic barriers. A figurative artist and writer with a deep social consciousness, his work is concerned with the contemporary portrait as well as the narratives, real and imagined, that accompany them.

PERFORMERS

Guo Jian (represented by Art Atrium) Guo Jian is a Sydney-based Chinese Australian artist whose art is a product of the last fifty years of violence and tumultuousness in China, from the Cultural Revolution through to the horrors of the Tiananmen Square incident.

A central theme to his art derives from his observations of the application of propaganda to both motivate soldiers and sway public opinion.

Nicholas Ng Nicholas Ng brings together the ancient and the modern in music through the use of traditional instruments and electronic sound.

His style is influenced by his roots as an Australian composer of Chinese descent and often implements old–world Asian modality in a contemporary ‘western’ context towards the creation of a fresh, unique and highly energized sound.

Aruna Gandhi A performing artiste, choreographer and educator, Aruna Gandhi specialises in the Indian-classical dance style of Bharatanatyam.

It is a dance form that weaves together various rhythmic patterns, hand-gestures, facial expressions, movements and music to express thoughts and feelings and narrate stories.

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Carnival of the Bold seeks to champion the arts for social change.

It is a movement of social change to create deeper engagement around social, cultural and humanitarian causes. The initiative showcases artists who use their art to enrich our cultural identity, explore shared values, spark imagination and empower communities.

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