Taiwanese artist explores notions of identity for NZ exhibition
Opening in Auckland on 5 May 2011, a new exhibition by New York-based Taiwanese artist Yi-Hsin Tzeng will showcase two video works which were produced as a result of her residency at Unitec supported by the Asia:NZ culture programme.
Yi-Hsin is a mixed media artist, trained in Taiwan and the United States. Through her two new works, The Last Painting and Pretending Conversation, she explores unique personal meanings of identity.
The Last Painting deals with the artist’s experience of relocating to the United States. Living in the southern state of Georgia where she completed a Master’s of Fine Art in painting, Yi-Hsin first began to grasp her unique Asian identity.
As she comes from a restrictive training background in painting, the argument about “the death of painting” gives Yi-Hsin a chance to explore what painting means for her. The artist uses her last painting to portray the image of “people of colours,” challenging the traditional Asian female image and conventional ways of viewing a painting.
For her second video installation, Pretending Conversation, Yi-Hsin was inspired by the connection between the Maori culture and her own background. With help from the Maori Development Centre at UNITEC, she designed a special conversation between two people – Yi-Hsin herself, speaking only in Mandarin and another girl, Hannah, responding only in Maori.
Without any script, rehearsal or translation, they are filmed talking about everything and nothing. “Because of the language barrier,” says Yi-Hsin Tzeng, “the two need to pretend that they have the ability to enjoy and carry on with the conversation.”
Their improvised dialogue generates misunderstandings and assumptions but also inadvertently reveals stereotype, contrast and truth through small talk that is funny, absurd and persistent.
“Yi-Hsin Tzeng is an established and talented artist who brings her own brand of original creative thinking to the New Zealand art scene,” said Asia:NZ culture director Jennifer King. “We are very pleased that she has had such an inspiring and productive stay in Auckland.”
The exhibition opens on Thursday 5 May at 5.00pm, at Unitec’s Snow White Gallery at the Mt. Albert campus in Auckland where visitors will have the chance to meet the artist.
Yi-Hsin Tzeng will complete her three-month residency in New Zealand at the end of May. Yi-Hsin’s work has been exhibited in Taiwan, USA, South America, Australia and Europe. She has also been the recipient of several international artist residencies while her works have been featured in New American Paintings, NYTimes.com, Juxtapoz, and art fairs in Switzerland, New York and Miami.
Auckland artist Rohan Wealleans is currently at the Taipei Artist Village on a reciprocal exchange. The Asia:NZ arts programme fosters Taiwan-New Zealand cross-cultural exchange through its support of the annual artist-in-residence programme between Unitec and the Taipei Artist Village.
- by Antonia Kokalova-Gray