Virtual Launch. Watch with us.
Are you home or on your way home?
Good, cosy up with a nice cup of tea or a dram of Loch Brewery & Distillery single malt whisky whilst Ouyang recites for us amongst the gum trees. Hope you enjoy watching as much as we loved making it! Now that you're settled, why not join musician Emily Soon who will be live on Instagram from 9pm AEDT launching her new single Love Is The Loneliest Place ?
Watch this space for conversations with our contributors about nature, food and art as part of Succour for the Spirit. Message us on Soundcloud (link below) with your recommended sound medicine! Last but not least, read on for introductions to the rest of our amazing contributors.
Note:— Due to COVID-19 developments, our exhibition and related programme of events has been paused with the aim of rescheduling to April 2021.
Introducing
Ouyang Yu
Photograph by Echo Cai
Ouyang Yu is a Chinese-born poet, novelist, editor and translator based in Melbourne. Since arriving in Australia in 1991, he has published over 100 books of poetry, fiction, non-fiction, literary translation and literary criticism in English and Chinese. He edits Australia’s only Chinese literary journal, Otherland. His poetry and translations have been included in major Australian collections such as, The Penguin Anthology of Australian Poetry, The Macquarie PEN Anthology of Australian Literature and The turnrow Anthology of Contemporary Australian Poetry. His noted books include his award-winning novels, The Eastern Slope Chronicle (2002), The English Class (2010) and The Kingsbury Tales: A Complete Collection (2012), and his acclaimed books of poetry include, Songs of the Last Chinese Poet (1997) and New and Selected Poems (2004), to name but a few. In 2011 he was nominated one of the Top 10 most influential writers of Chinese origin in the Chinese diaspora.
Guan Wei
Exhibiting artist and speaker Guan Wei has a significant international reputation as a contemporary artist whose work crosses cultural and political borders. A Chinese national who migrated to Australia in 1989, his practice which spans more than 30 years, draws on his personal experience of both Chinese and Australian culture, as well as an informed socio-political awareness and knowledge of art history. His creative output has consistently examined complex social issues underpinned by humility and a deep respect for humanity. Across painting, sculpture and installation, his work conveys profound stories of loss, migration, identity, and notions of boundaries and place, interweaving an understanding of tradition and the past in the face of overwhelming global change today. A prolific maker and the recipient of numerous awards - the Arthur Guy Memorial Painting Prize (2015), the Sulman Prize (2002) and the Clemenger Contemporary Art Award (2009) to name a few - Guan Wei is represented by ARC ONE Gallery and Martin Browne Contemporary. He has exhibited all of the world.
Fu Hong
Photography by Echo Cai
Exhibiting artist and speaker Fu Hong arrived in Australia in 1990, having already held his first solo exhibition at the National Art Gallery of China in 1988 at just 42 years of age. Since arriving in Australia, he has gained a deserved national and international reputation for his original synthesis of representational painting with “impressionist” and “expressionist” leanings. Each individual picture has an experiential sculptural syntax underscoring its pictorial space – one can actually see the solidity of his pictorial forms and 'feel' them through his skilful and inventive use of modelling, perspective and spatial illusion. A prolific maker, since his arrival, Fu Hong has held sixty solo exhibitions in Asia, Europe and Australia. Portraitist of choice for the Australian Judiciary, the arts and private patrons alike, his diverse sitters tell a fascinating story from Sir James Gobbo AC, CVO, QC (Governor of Victoria, 1997- 2000) to Li Cunxin (Director of the Queensland Ballet) and esteemed writer Alex Miller. A two-time Archibald finalist (2008 for his portrait of Dr Joseph Brown and 2009 for his portrait of Dame Elizabeth Murdoch), finalist of the Doug Moran National Portrait Prize (1996, 2010, 2014), the Dobell Prize of Drawing (2004), winner of the Shirley Hannan National Portrait Award (2002) and many other awards besides, his works are widely collected in public and private collections throughout the world.
Kuang Zai
Born in China, exhibiting artist and speaker Kuang Zai holds a Masters degree in Fine Art from the Academy of Art and Design at Tsinghua University (China), as well as a Masters degree from Monash University in Australia. Since arriving in Australia in 1998, his work has been presented in over 15 solo and 44 group exhibitions. He has been the recipient of numerous art prizes and a finalist in the Archibald Prize (2007, 2008), the Doug Moran National Portrait Prize (2007, 2009, 2010), the Sulman Prize (2012), the Fleurieu Art Prize (2008, 2011) and the Albany Art Prize (2008, 2010, 2011 and 2012), to name but a small few. His works are held in various public and corporate collections including the Cowra Regional Art Gallery, BHP Billiton, Monash University, Macquarie University, as well as various private collections internationally.
Shen Zhimin
Photograph by Echo Cai
Collaborating artist and speaker Shen Zhimin is an Australian-Chinese writer. Since his arrival in Australia in 1990, he has published three novels including Dynamic Treasure Trove (1996) and a philosophical paper entitled A Treatise on Comprehensive Logic. His writing has been published in Chinese newspapers in Australia and North America, as well as in Mainland China, Taiwan and Hong Kong. He has been awarded more than ten literary awards. His works of literature have been included in dictionaries such as the History of Overseas Chinese Literature published in mainland China. To find out more about Shen Zhimin's novels, see this article in Mascara Literary Journal by Ouyang Yu.
Shen Jiawei
Photograph by Kirsty Gibson
Exhibiting artist and speaker Shen Jiawei was born in Shanghai. A farmer, soldier and propaganda artist during the 1960s-1970s in China, he later studied at the Central Academy of Fine Arts in Beijing (1982-1984). His early oil painting Standing Guard For Our Great Motherland (1974) became an icon of those early years and was later shown in New York at the Guggenheim Museum (1998) and by the Asia Society Museum (2008). He arrived in Australia in 1989, having first won the China National Art Exhibition Prize five times. A gifted painter and portraitist of renown, he has been an Archibald Prize finalist fourteen times (including once as runner-up in 1997) and the winner of the Mary MacKillop Art Award (1995), the Sulman Prize (2006) and the Gallipoli Art Award (2016). He has been commissioned by the Australian Government to paint official portraits for the Governor-General, the Prime Minister, Speakers and HRH Crown Princess of Denmark. Best-known for his complex history paintings, he has been a member of the National Artists Association of China since 1982. His works are widely represented in public and private collections in Australia and throughout the world including, the Vatican art collection and the National Museum, the National Art Museum and the National Military Museum in Beijing.
Timothy Hillier
Photograph by Echo Cai
Timothy Hillier is a photographer working with still and moving imagery, in a vernacular and documentary style, from capture through to editing, sound and directing. Working on projects from commercial, to artist films and to community based documentaries, Hillier collaborates with an intrepid eye. For the last seven years, he has extensively travelled around Australia, working in every corner of the continent, with First Nations communities on youth empowering music projects, or in documentaries capturing dance, tradition, art and health. He has been a vital part in the growth of many young indigenous artists, from musicians Baker Boy and Dallas Woods, to actors Baykali Ganambarr and Gordon Churchill. He is in post-production on documentaries about the rise of Baker Boy, and a NITV funded doc about Melbourne/Naarm based arts project 'The Torch'. Colour is a defining part of Hillier's visuals. It drives his narratives, relays emotions and ideas and captivates.
