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Documentation of the “Unlucky” side of our performance

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Research

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Week 10 Glitch/interference/Noise Exercise 

Week 10 -  Playing ping pong in a broken way

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Final Work

Rationale

Following Assessment 1, I wasn't really sure of what I wanted to do in relation to Assessment 2 and whether to carry on that same idea I had about the term 'orientalism'. After we covered the topic of re-staging during class, I thought of artist Zhang Huan and his artwork 'Family Tree'. I remembered seeing that piece at an art exhibition in Hong Kong and was reminded of how big of an effect that piece had on me. 

After thinking of the possibility of re-staging an artwork, I did lots of research into Chinese artists who use elements of the western world- whether that be subject matter, symbols or ideology. This research was really important as it allowed me to develop a deeper knowledge on my topic and the binary of the 'East & West' through art and culture. 

After researching several artists such as Xu Bing, and Ai Wei Wei, and their artworks, I always ended up thinking about Zhang Huan's work, Family Tree. This was when I decided to create a re-staging of that piece for my work. Zhang Huan's family tree focussed on physically and literally depicting the impact language and physiognomy hand on one's identity. The theory of physiognomy in particular, really interested me because it was simply just the idea of how people look at your facial features to determine your characteristics and origin. 

This 'guessing game' is something I deal with on the daily basis, along with all of the mixed individuals I researched. Particularly, in Hong Kong, my country of origin, whenever I would speak in Cantonese (70% of my day is in Cantonese), local people would also be surprised or shocked as a response, this is because I look like a 鬼妹'guai mui; (literal translation: ghost girl). This term is used to describe young western girls and is normally said in a playful tone like 'oh it's just a silly, unknowing 鬼妹' and is mostly used in situations where westerners don't know how to communicate, or act, or are generally confused about directions/customs etc. when in Hong Kong. 

Inspired by Zhang Huang's practice behind his work, I decided to explore the same idea of identity in relation to my binary of East and West in my work. My artwork consists of 9 photographs I took, with texts saying, 'ghost girl', 'east', 'western', 'why can you speak Cantonese', 'why is your Chinese so good', 'what are you', along with Chinese symbols such as a dragon. The phrases I used were collected from the information my mixed friends provided from the interviews, along with my personal daily experience as a mixed girl fluent in Cantonese in Hong Kong. 

The traditional Chinese symbols included- dragon, clouds, flowers, relate to typical images seen in traditional Chinese artworks, textiles and ceramics, as informed by my research. I also carried through the imagery of the 'red string' I used in the first assignment. In my Assessment 1 poster, I used the red line only as an aesthetic element to tie in the red in the background with the black and white image of the model. In this work, instead of only using the red string aesthetically, the main purpose of the red string was to communicate the idea that my Easter/Asian culture and influence is also there, despite the appearance of the lack thereof. The way the string flows through and is imbedded into my face in the series of photographs also acts as the unification of both binaries, as if I am the result of the unification of the binaries (which I am, literally and metaphorically). 

Bibliography

Zhang Huan, Family Tree, 2001, 9 Chromogenic Prints, 49.5 x 39 " Public Delivery. (2011). Whole face painted black in Zhang Huan's Family Tree. [online] Available at: https://publicdelivery.org/zhang-huan-family-tree/ [Accessed 9 Sep. 2018].

Metmuseum.org. (1999). Book From the Sky Xu Bing. [online] Available at: https://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/77468 [Accessed 10 Sep. 2018].

The Art Story. (2008). Ai Weiwei Overview and Analysis. [online] Available at: https://www.theartstory.org/artist-ai-weiwei.htm [Accessed 10 Sep. 2018].

Hays, J. (2008). CHINESE ART AND SYMBOLS | Facts and Details. [online] Factsanddetails.com. Available at: http://factsanddetails.com/china/cat7/sub40/item260.html [Accessed 12 Sep. 2018].

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Research- Eastern Chinese and Western European symbolism and Art

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Research: Collecting insight- Mixed Chinese Australian friend’s recounts 

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Experiment

Was just playing around with two different childhood photos- one taken during Chinese New Year in Hong Kong and one during Christmas in Sydney. Played around with the red line, carrying it on from my Assessment 1 poster.

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Research: Collecting personal recounts on what it is like to be a mix of both binaries (East & West/ Asian & White)

I asked some of my friends who are mixed Asian and white to briefly talk about their experience being a mixed. Things they like, dislike, or anything in particular that they have noticed. 

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Artist Research: Artists who explore the East and West, and cultural identity (Ai Wei Wei, Xu Bing, Zhang Huan)

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In Class Experiment

Context and Time- Re-staging MOMA Vistor Height Chart

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Ecologies in Class experiment

Task was to create a sculptural installation that reflect an aspect of the topic covered; Ecologies. 

Ecology is the branch of biology that deals with the relations of organisms to one another and to their physical surroundings. 

My group decided to create a piece that demonstrated our relationship to our environment particular to our interactions with technology and littering. We filmed scenes of people interacting with their phones on campus, and also short scenes of rubbish on the floor next to rubbish bins. We found some items that related to this idea such as wire, protective foam and a receipt machine.

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Final Poster + Statement

For this assessment I chose topic 4 which involved the investigation of constructed binaries and how art and design can interrogate these binaries and offer new insights. After brainstorming and doing brief research on existing constructed binaries, I decided to focus on the binary of the East and the West; the Orient and the Occident. After establishing this, I spent most of my time focussed on researching the term 'Orientalism' and its origin and influence on all aspects of today's society. I decided to focus my piece on the negative connotations of Orientalism and how this western generated term encouraged the essentialities of East Asian and Middle Eastern culture as undeveloped and inferior in comparison to the west.  In regard to this, I wanted to make a piece that explored that history along with the contemporary 'fetishizing' of East Asian culture that is dominant in fashion, film, art and literature. In achieving this, I used an image of a Caucasian looking model and depicted her holding a 'mask' of a Chinese woman dressed in Chinese opera makeup and Han headpieces over half of her face. I illustrated a red line around the mask and also along the model's arm to help with the expression that the model is using the Chinese woman as a mask, something she can pick and choose when to put on or take off. The text in the background reads 'East' in traditional Chinese character and this is mainly used as a design element to make the poster more visually interesting and busy, however it is also an interesting idea to play with because only individuals who can read Chinese are able to understand it. In the end, I really liked exploring this complex binary and I found it really interesting learning about the term Oriental because I had never thought about it before, I had only ever seen the term when used to describe places or fashion or art.

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Poster Process (Creation) 

I did some research and chose a portrait image of a Caucasian looking model in a really typical pose and an image of women dressed in traditional Han Chinese clothing with strong makeup inspired by Chinese Opera stage makeup. Throughout the creation of the poster, I kept experimenting with possible colours and fonts. Initially I wanted to use a stone/light grey background colour with a colourful font, however because the image of the model was in black and white, the entire poster looked too monochromatic and boring. When playing with colours, I tried a dark red and it worked really well with the other colours and also made the poster way more eye catching and made it look ‘complete’. 

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Design Ideas + Design Development

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Research- Possible Style

I really like the illustrative style of these vintage Chinese propaganda posters.