« Vasanti Cosmetics | inspired by the cultural landscape of Toronto | Main | Japan, Ink - Inside the Manga Industrial Complex | WIRED MAGAZINE: ISSUE 15.11 »
Seeing Past Our Skin - part of (Not) Made In China| Nov 2 to Dec 2 | Vancouver
Yellow skin, chopsticks, feng shui principles, mahjong tiles, and an abacus or two ... you won't find any of these "Chinese markers" in SEEING PAST OUR SKIN, a collective self-portrait of 9 self-identified Chinese Canadians featured at Vancouver's Gallery Gachet. What you will find are the books these individuals read, the shoes they wear, and other personal effects that work against homogenizing and stereotyping people socially pinned as ethnically Chinese.
Artists Johnson Chan, Viola Chan, Eugene Lin, Nancy Fong, Robert Parungao, Heather Joan Tam, Levan Trieu, Araya Vivorakij, and Zizian Zhong have depicted and defined the complex, shifting identities of Chinese Canadians through objects that reveal traces of their own intellectual interests, cultural backgrounds, hobbies and talents, interpersonal relationships, social and professional networks, and rights and privileges. They make you question the whole idea of what it means to be a Canadian with "yellow skin".
(NOT) MADE IN CHINA: The Work of Migration Series | Nov 2 - Dec 2
Opening: Friday, Nov 2, 7:00pm - 10:00pm
Gallery Hours: Wed - Sun 12-6pm.
88 East Cordova Street, Vancouver | tel: 604.687.2468 (INFO)
Seeing Past Our Skin is part of (Not) Made in China: The Work of Migration Series, which also includes the exhibit Twospeak (a two-channel audio recording that attempts to correct an omitted mention of Chinese-Canadians in a local Canadian historical narrative), and a book re-launch of the Chinese Canadian Historical Society of BC’s ‘NEW VOICES: An Anthology’ Art & Writing by Chinese Canadians of Post-1967 Diaspora in Lower Mainland BC.
TrackBack
TrackBack URL for this entry:
http://www.schemamag.ca/mt/mt-tb.cgi/469
Comments
I find this sentence interesting, "What you will find are the books these individuals read, the shoes they wear, and other personal effects that work against homogenizing and stereotyping people socially pinned as ethnically Chinese" - given that at least two and possibly three or more of the artists are not clearly Chinese, if one can make a judgement based on surnames alone.
If you read the curatorial synopsis on the gallery page, "Seeing Past Our Skin is a collective self-portrait of eight self-identified Chinese Canadians, represented through a selection of personal effects" it's clear that the young artists involved self-identified as Canadians of Chinese descent. What the exhibit attempts to do is subvert the essentializing of racialized identity -- that is to say, that being "Chinese Canadian" often essentializes one's identity to race, where as in reality, they are a composite of many complex influences such that race may in fact be the least significant cultural determinant.
Subscribe to our Feed
About this post
Comments (2)
Permalink
Tags
(16)
(1)
(1)
(6)
(39)
(4)
(1)
(1)
(5)
(5)
(15)
(1)
(3)
(1)
(4)
(1)
(7)
(4)
(36)
(52)
(26)
(14)
(7)
(39)
(1)
(4)
(6)
(3)
(9)
(54)
(44)
(1)
(80)
(8)
(41)
(30)
(1)
(1)
(1)
(1)
(2)
(7)
(1)
(10)
(30)
(2)
(1)
(2)
(28)
(1)
(2)
(38)
(1)
(22)
(1)
(32)
(1)
(2)
(4)
(22)
(21)
(22)
(19)
(10)
(1)
(10)
(34)
(35)
Recent Posts
Jennifer Thym, Director of LUMINA Web Series | Vancouver | November 4, 2009
America's Next Top Model takes blackface to a whole new level
Oliberté | This Is the Real Africa
VIWF 2009: The Tightrope & Building Blocks
A Family Fugue & An Almost Fatal Attraction at the VIWF 2009!
Phil Yu in review at iWriteAboutMe.com | Vancouver
Bollywood Film Star Rahul Bose in Vancouver: FREE SHOW!
Fresh Media Event | Saturday, October 24, 2009
Advertisement
Archives
November 2009
October 2009
September 2009
August 2009
July 2009
June 2009
May 2009
April 2009
March 2009
February 2009
January 2009
December 2008
November 2008
October 2008
September 2008
August 2008
July 2008
June 2008
May 2008
April 2008
March 2008
February 2008
January 2008
December 2007
November 2007
October 2007
September 2007
August 2007
July 2007
June 2007
May 2007
April 2007
March 2007
February 2007
January 2007
December 2006
November 2006
Advertisement