Far Flung: Connecting Intergenerational Families
2019
An exhibition presenting the research collaboration of a 'Social-Artists-in-Residence' team who worked with eleven local diverse families to develop a collaborative art project during the months of June - September, 2019. The families of Far Flung families have migrated from around the Asia-Pacific region including China, Taiwan, Hong Kong, Korea, Malaysia, Vietnam and Colombia, reflecting the growing and evolving diversity of Doncaster, Manningham.
Drawing from Manningham's collection and studio focus on ceramic art, the families worked with artists on a range of social engagement and studio activities to connect with local place and rethink their own relationships with our globalising city. The resulting exhibition curates the group's perspective of having both a local and global sense of home, with participants expressing their sense of belonging and home through the comfort of dining and sharing. The gallery space was reimagined as a shared home, with the first room designed as a lounge to introduce and engage the audience through the voices and experiences of the participants through video and sound documentation. The main gallery becomes the shared dining room, adorned by portraits of the families. Each of the participants created their own hands and places at the dining room table, representing the creation of their own place in a new society. With support from the artistic team, the families have become both the subject and co-creators of the exhibition, presenting their shared perspectives and the journey they have undertaken.
The families who participated in this project were Alice Moon & Jeong Min Lee (Julia Lee), Camila Duque Cavadid & Karen Lee Cavadid Ramirez, Candy Li & Di (Brian) Li, Charlene Chen & Hsin-Hui (Rita) Mitic, Doanh (Andrea) Lu/Han Lu, Jialin (Dora) Ke & Yu Xialin, Li Xuan (Alfred) Feng & Chau Man (Nancy) Tsoi, Matthew Huang (Yurui) & Lily Zhou (Zhijuan), Milano Zhang & Chi Zhang, Neena Lim & Kavitha Doraimanickam, Yi Chen Zhang (Eason) & Yehong Zhang (Vicky). The 'Social-Artists-in-Residence Team' comprised of Dr Tammy Wong Hulbert (Lead Artist), Sofi Basseghi, Ai Yamamoto, Katayoun Javan (Photography, video and sound), Amy Kennedy, Yuso Lee (ceramics) and Rongping Jiang (family support and translator).
The project was supported by the City of Manningham, funded by Creative Victoria's Creative Suburbs program in partnership with Birralee Primary School, Chinese Community Social Services, The Chinese Museum and RMIT University Contemporary Art and Social Transformation (CAST). The exhibition will be held at the Manningham Art Gallery, 687 Doncaster Road, Doncaster, opening on November 13 until December 14, 2019.
RMIT University acknowledges the people of the Woi wurrung and Boon wurrung language groups of the eastern Kulin Nations on whose unceded lands we conduct the business of the University. RMIT University respectfully acknowledges their Ancestors and Elders, past and present. RMIT also acknowledges the Traditional Custodians and their Ancestors of the lands and waters across Australia where we conduct our business.
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Copyright © 2020 CAST