IAC Art Talks Series 2 Lecture Four: Storytelling: Chinese Migrants Through Papercutting by Dr Tianli Zu (Catch up Online)
This seminar was held on Tuesday 11 June 2024
Abstract
Papercutting is one of the most popular folk arts in China and dates back over 2000 years. As a Chinese Australian multimedia artist, I have expanded this Chinese traditional craft to contemporary art. In my recent research, I explored the first Chinese migrants who came to Shoalhaven, on the South Coast of New South Wales in the 1840s.
In February 2023, I was offered an opportunity as an Artist-in-Residence at Bundanon to begin researching and connecting with Chinese communities in the Shoalhaven, uncovering hidden stories and exploring connections to culture, heritage and the environment. It was not just who they were but through their interwoven threads that I chose the narratives to explore. After 15 months I developed my research into a site-specific installation exhibition ‘Blurring Boundaries’. In this exhibition I conducted storytelling through papercuts, installation, and animation.
In this art talk I will share insights from my interviews, behind-the-scenes of my art making, and the meanings embedded in the works. I will touch upon my explorations of heritage and culture, East and West, life and death, presence and absence, reality and imagination. My art reflects my life, upbringing, worldview and changed environment, and is deeply intertwined with my personal experiences. It is an interdependent relationship between my work and my life, and I extend the questions to the public, inviting everyone to participate.
I will also discuss place, identity, and otherness. The topics deal with trauma, crime, tension, pain, taboo, irony, as well as spirituality and healing. I aim to obtain clarity in representing complex identities without prejudice, stereotypes, or discrimination.
Storytelling: Chinese Migrants Through Papercuts discloses a profound journey of self-discovery through a thought-provoking project. Throughout the creative process, I have engaged in dialogue, research, reflection, and conceptualisation, allowing myself to cultivate a deeper understanding of history, society, nature, and my inner self. As a migrant who has lived in Australia for over 35 years, I have had to navigate and adapt to an unfamiliar environment, complex life, and hybrid identities. Through my art, I reflect upon the disruptive yin-yang world that we live in, where accepting things as they are can bring beauty, and there is always light at the end of the tunnel. Despite wanting to cut off from the past due to its difficulties and complexities, this project has allowed me to become more connected to my roots and history, while simultaneously embracing new experiences and perspectives.
About the Speaker
Dr Tianli Zu is a Chinese Australian multimedia artist. After graduating from the Central Academy of Fine Arts with a BA, she moved to Sydney in 1988. In 2010, she obtained an MFA by research from Sydney College of the Arts and in 2014 she received her PhD from Sydney College of the Arts, University of Sydney.
Dr Zu’s art has been exhibited at the Art Gallery of NSW, The Powerhouse Museum, National Library of Australia, Adelaide Festival Centre, Centre Pompidou in Paris, and various art institutions. She has been commissioned by University of Sydney, The Powerhouse Museum, Walt Disney, Maritime Union of Australia, City of Sydney, Sydney Aquarium, Vivid Sydney, Hazelhurst Regional Gallery, Hawkesbury Regional Gallery, Gallery Lane Cove, and Mosman Art Gallery. She has also been a finalist in numerous national art prizes, including the Archibald Prize twice, Salon des Refuses, Dobell Drawing Prize, Blake Prize, Portia Geach Memorial Award, Mosman Art Prize, National Works on Paper, Hazelhurst Art on Paper Award, Paddington Art Prize, North Sydney Art Prize and Willoughby Sculpture Prize. Her art has been collected worldwide.
Dr Zu has a diverse practice comprising papercuts, sculpture, painting, animation, and installation. She creates large-scale papercuts by hand and combines them with installation and animation to provide viewers with unique experiences of time and space.
Dr Zu has spent over 35 years in Australia telling stories that convey philosophical ideas combining the old and new, nature and technology, the East and West, working with a range of materials and methods to reveal the interplay between light and shadow, Yin and Yang.
