Succour for the Spirit – Issue 4
Sunday Reading with multi-disciplinary artist, curator & columnist
Echo Cai
Talking about Broken Hill, WeChat publishing, the need for a new future post COVID-19 & more. #SuccourfortheSpirit #SilentDialogueEvents
Photograph by Echo Cai
“It is important to use this time of forced isolation to first examine ourselves and then draw together what we are attached to; what we are going to be freed from, what are we going to rebuild?”
In Conversation
with Echo Cai (EC) & correspondences’ Emma Thomson (ET)
Nature, food or art?
EC—Nature
Photograph of Montsalvat Art Centre, by Echo Cai
All-time favourite place
EC—My all-time favourite place would have to be Montsalvat Art Centre. The artistic spirit of the place can be felt from the buildings to every corner of the land and gardens. It is always full of artists and full of stories. I like places with stories.
Favourite place near home
EC—My favourite place near home is Rivers of Yarrambat. It is a centre comprising of nursery, cafe, gift shop and Yoga classroom. I love having coffee facing the lake with ducks swimming and nature surrounding you.
Place you're dreaming of going
Photograph of The Palace Hotel. Copyright Sofie Wainwright, ABC News. To go behind the scenes at The Palace, check out this video by the ABC.
EC—The place I have been dreaming of going is Broken Hill and The Palace Hotel. In the past ten years, I have tried twice to book the Priscilla suite. Unfortunately, on both occasions I needed to cancel - most recently due to the corona virus pandemic. I am drawn to the landscape of Broken Hill and central Australia.
During this most recent trip, I had planned to visit Broken Hill and other places. It was part of my ongoing research into the history of early Chinese-Australians. In this area, there is evidence of an important pattern of migration lasting for decades from the goldfields to rural areas and occupations. Chinese peoples pioneered new ways of gardening and producing food from the arid land.
When my recent trip was cancelled, I was so disappointed. So, my partner Fu Hong and I made the work Day Dream / 白日梦 (2020), using footage from our other travels into the outback. As far as The Palace Hotel specifically…I suppose I have always dreamt of staying there because I love the film 'Priscilla Queen of the Desert'. The film captures this sense of artistic freedom which is very important to me and I love the music!
Echo Cai & Fu Hong, Day Dream / 白日梦 (2020), video, 90 seconds. For a conversation with Cai about the work, refer HERE.
What are you writing about?
Photograph of writer Shen Zhimin by Echo Cai
EC—I have a public platform in WeChat that allows me to connect with my Chinese speaking audience through articles and posts. I write it once a week. Most of the articles are about my life in Melbourne as a Chinese-Australian artist. It combines my photography and videos as well as written pieces from other artists and writers.
ET—Cai recently published a wonderful piece by writer Zhimin Shen (pictured above) entitled 《祷告吧，人们！》/ 'Pray People''. English translation to follow.
All-time favourite musician(s)?
EC—Diana Krall is one of my favourite singers. A few years ago, I was ill with leukaemia. I spent 4 months in hospital. I listened to Diana everyday and often shared my ear phones with my partner Fu Hong when he came to visit. Diana's music is our common love. Even today, I can remember those songs one by one clearly. Deep and soulful - her songs talk to your heart.
Tell us about one of your creations
Echo Cai, Time-based Walking / 意孤行 (2020), video, 2 mins. Courtesy & copyright the artist
EC—I have recently been working on a video art series The work from this series that I'd like to discuss is called Time-based Walking / 一意孤行 (2020). I suppose it was made as a sort of companion-piece to a WeChat post I published entitled 'I look forward to' /《我期待》 (or perhaps the written piece was the companion) - which you can read in Chinese below.
What was the starting point?
EC—I’ve been thinking a lot about how the pandemic will eventually pass, but after that, is it a "new" future? After we have stopped, will we pause to re-examine and think about "why" before we make further steps? We have always been pushed forward by the power of the perpetual motion wheel, and ran forward with blank minds. This kind of life of twenty or thirty years is our "normal state". Ecology and the climate have been destroyed by globalisation and relentless progress. In the face of a catastrophic epidemic, who can deny it? Why should we return to the "normal state"? To continue to create the next plague?
What were you striving to explore?
EC—In hindsight, in my video, I can see I was exploring this idea of perpetual motion - of relentless progress. This state should be questioned, regardless of economic or cultural model. We don't need a global one, we need more options and this is what I want to explore in my art and my writing. We need a return to deeper thinking.
If each of us thinks independently with our own brains, we may be able to effectively press the reset button of globalisation. It is important to use this time of forced isolation to first examine ourselves and then draw together what we are attached to; what we are going to freed from and what we are going to rebuild?
If within a month or two, billions of people can learn to separate from each other for greater unity and good, then you can imagine how much transformation humanity is capable of. As you said, in my video this transformation was embodied in the movement of the people. Walking compliantly in single-file, always observing the social distancing rules, for the better good of all.
What are you working on now that we can learn more about?
EC—I am working on some short videos. I am also conducting research for a longer video, which I intend to adapt from a book - combining performance and visual art - to tell stories about our Chinese-Australian history. I am also working with my collaborator Emma to continue our project Silent Dialogue. My work above will be shown in this exhibition and Emma and I are also working on a collaborative piece of writing to present as part the book to be published in December 2020. To support our project, you can pre-purchase one of our books.
What else can supporters do?
Share our news via email & social media via: i silent_dialogue; and, f silentdialogueevents. It introduces us to new supporters!
Follow Cai at: i @artecho.gallery; f: @artecho. To follow Cai on WeChat scan the QR code below
For a conversation with Cai about her collaborative work with partner Fu Hong entitled Day Dream / 白日梦 (2020), refer HERE.
Biography
Exhibiting artist and co-curator Echo Cai is the founder and curator of the Chinese-Australian Contemporary Artists (“CACA”) and Art Echo. She arrived in Australia in 1989 after completing her Bachelors Degree in Art at Peking University. Since 2003 Cai has exhibited widely and her works are represented in private and public collections in Australia and China. Since 2014, in addition to CACA shows, Cai has curated a range of group exhibitions in Melbourne including: the Chinese Australian Artists Exhibition (2017); This Street Art Event: Mapping Melbourne Art Festival (2017); Multi Art Fashion Show (2016); and, the Melbourne Chinese Australian Short Movie Competition (2015).
Image credit (banner image): Photograph of Shen Zhimin by Echo Cai
