Welcome
to correspondences. Our aim is to create lasting people connections across cultures through the medium of art.
to correspondences. Our aim is to create lasting people connections across cultures through the medium of art.
From January 2022—
珍妮喆张 / Jenny Zhe Chang, Dim Sum & Milk Tea (detail)/點點心意珍珠情 (局部) 2018 installation 630 x 420 x 195 cm South Wind Rises: Asia-Pacific Contemporary Art Exhibition Courtesy © Jenny Zhe Chang
对于中国移民，就像来自其他文化的移民一样，一起吃饭是维持文化纽带和分享爱意的方式。确实，“点心”的字面意思是“轻轻触摸一下心”。我自己作为一个移民，艺术创作中的很大一部分，是通过食物、移民和家庭的相互联系的想法来考察跨越文化的联系和归属感。毕竟，无论什么文化背景，食物是人人关注，人人都需要和享用的。
For Chinese migrants, as for migrants and peoples from other cultures, eating food together is a way of celebrating cultural ties and sharing our love. Indeed, the literal translation of 點心 is “touches the heart gently”. As a migrant myself, much of my practice investigates transcultural connection and belonging through the interlinking ideas of food, migration and family. After all, food is a universal concern; it is something we all need and enjoy regardless of cultural background.
— 珍妮喆张 / Jenny Zhe Chang
Multidisciplinary artist 珍妮喆张 / Jenny Zhe Chang, creates sculptures, paper cuttings, paintings and installations that investigate the interaction between Eastern and Western ways of being. Her site-specific installations often explore transcultural connection, belonging and interlinking ideas of food, migration and family.
Her more recent solo exhibitions include Light with Hope (Testing Grounds, 2021), Love! From head to toe (Tian Qiao Theatre, 2019); Beyond, A Century’s Love II, (Glen Eira City Council Gallery, 2018); South Wind Rises: Asia-Pacific Contemporary Art Exhibition (National Taiwan Arts Education Centre, 2018); Yum Cha – Sharing Monuments, (Mapping Melbourne, 2017); Beyond, A Century’s Love (T3 International Art Zone Contemporary Museum, 2016); Soar – Step by Step, 55th Anniversary, National Ballet of China (Tian Qiao Theater, 2014-15); Détente Connection (Art Gallery St Vincent Hospital, 2014); Warm Up, Soar Beyond (Museum of Contemporary Art, Taipei 2013); and, Homeostasis: Yin & Yang (Five Walls, 2013).
Since 2001, she has participated in more than 57 group shows in Australia, Japan, and the US. She holds a Bachelor of Fine Art (Painting) from the Victorian College of Arts, University of Melbourne and Master of Computing from Monash University.
For Silent Dialogue / 沉默的对话, Chang continues her search into ideas of transcultural connection and belonging through her examination of conventional wisdom. Conceived during the COVID-19 age, when many people have been physically separated from their loved ones and extended community network, Chang has gathered quotes of wisdom from various cultures passed down through generations to support, nurture or buoy us along during times of hardship.
Inspired by Chang's love of "飲茶" (Yum Cha), the wisdom is presented in nine lanterns constructed from traditional bamboo yum cha steamers. Connected and arranged in a vertical formation, the totemistic form of Light with Hope – Elevating 《希望之光 - 提升》2021-22 encourages us to reflect. To think on our collective histories and the conventional wisdom that guides and empowers us to seek out higher levels of self-understanding, tolerance and openness in the face of adversity.
From 13-16 January 2022, Chang’s works will be displayed at Missing Persons art space, located in the Nicholas Building on Swanston Street in Melbourne city. Her works will be shown alongside those of fellow artists 何佩佩 / He Pei Pei and 匡再 / Kuang Zai. Check out our Exhibition Program for details.
with 珍妮喆张 / Jenny Zhe Chang (JZC) & correspondences’ Emma Thomson / 汤姆逊•艾玛 (ET)
Note:— Desktop, tablet or phone exploration is encouraged for the below content. It is not designed for print. © Jenny Zhe Chang and correspondences unless otherwise noted.
ET—1) Jenny, one of the starting points for your new artwork comes from an earlier installation you created for Multicultural Arts Victoria’s Mapping Melbourne program. Entitled Yum Cha – Sharing Monuments 2017, the artwork displayed 60 bamboo steamers (baskets used for steaming food). Each steamer contained an image of ‘dim sum’ (dumplings enjoyed during Yum Cha). On the reverse side, the text shared the history of Yum Cha along with dim sum recipes gathered from the Chinese Australian community in Melbourne. The colourful dim sum images represented the diversity of our society - its cultures and sub-cultures -while the red text symbolised the collective blood of our humanity.
JZC—1) Yes. Yum Cha – Sharing Monuments 2017 was one of the early starting points. The genesis for the work came from my love of food and especially "飲茶" (Yum Cha), which translates literally to mean "drink tea". In Chinese culture since ancient times, we have gathered together with friends and loved ones to drink tea, eat "點心" (dim sum) and talk together. For Chinese migrants, as for migrants and peoples from other cultures, eating food together is a way of celebrating cultural ties and sharing our love. Indeed, the literal translation of 點心 is "touches the heart gently". As a migrant, much of my practice investigates transcultural connection and belonging through the interlinking ideas of food, migration and family. After all, food is a universal concern; we all need and enjoy it regardless of cultural background.
ET—2) Not long after Mapping Melbourne, you were commissioned to create a new installation for South Wind Rises, the 2018 Asia-Pacific Contemporary Art Exhibition in Taipei, Taiwan. Would you tell us a little more about this particular installation, which I particularly love?
JZC—2) My installations tend to be site-responsive. So for 點點心意珍珠情/ Dim Sum & Milk Tea 2018 in Taipei, I worked with the local communities to gather recipes for dim sum and 珍珠奶茶 or 'bubble tea' (also known as 'pearl milk tea' or 'boba'). Bubble tea is a tea-based drink that originated in Taiwan during the 1980s and remains very popular in Taiwan and throughout Southern and South-East Asia today. The artwork featured 100 suspended bamboo steamers. Each steamer contained two pictorial representations. On one side was an image of a Taiwanese dim sum treat. On the reverse side was a picture of a local bubble tea and fruits from my home in Australia to infuse the tea and create new flavours. The baskets were hung in rows from the ceiling with enough space for walking through and appreciating each morsel.
ET—3) One thing I noticed about 點點心意珍珠情/ Dim Sum & Milk Tea 2018 was the artwork’s design. Each steamer hung perfectly equidistant to the next, encouraging the viewer to trace the eye or walk from left to right, right to left, front to back or back to front, noticing the differences or similarities between the visualisations of the recipes/treats. One could also stand back and appreciate the installation as a whole, a sequence of interconnecting rows.
This capacity for shifting perspective brings a sense of ritualised flexibility to the process of looking. It encouraged the viewer to notice both the individual and the collective recipes/stories that; distinguish between and connect us simultaneously.
There is also a sense of ritual in your choice of subject matter, the tradition of gathering together regularly to Yum Cha! In a sense, Yum Cha is a ritualised space for sharing stories and much-loved recipes which remind us of who we are and from where we come. Eating together can also be a way of disarming boundaries.
Your art installations tend to investigate the connections between Eastern and Western ways of being. For 點點心意珍珠情/ Dim Sum & Milk Tea 2018, we’ve talked about how you wanted to explore the connections between different Chinese sub-cultures in Taipei.
You did this by creating this beautiful artwork that combined the ancient Chinese ritual of Yum Cha with the contemporary innovation of bubble tea which has become an important symbol of Taiwanese identity for Taiwanese peoples throughout the world.
Can you elaborate a little on what you were striving to explore?
JZC—3) Yes! Thank you. Taiwanese immigrants have brought bubble tea to America, Australia and elsewhere in Southern and South East Asia, resulting in new communities, recipes and understandings of Taiwanese culture. Whilst I wanted to reflect on the evolving contemporary nature of food culture, I also wanted to express a sense of respect and gratitude for tradition.
This desire informed my decision to hang the baskets slightly higher than usual. In the pagoda space of the former temple in which the artwork was exhibited, this felt appropriate. It drew the viewer's eye upwards to appreciate the expansive ceiling space above the steamers, creating a sense of reverence and respect for culture. So this taps into your earlier comment. The illustrations were also framed in a traditional Chinese window. This adherence to tradition acknowledged the strength of Chinese culture, which remains strong and is at the heart of innovation.
ET—4) For Silent Dialogue / 沉默的对话, we’re thrilled to be presenting Light with Hope – Elevating 《希望之光 - 提升》2021-22.
Conceived during the pandemic, when we have been physically separated from loved ones, community and other social networks, you have gathered quotes of wisdom from various cultures passed down through generations to support, nurture or buoy us along during times of hardship.
Inspired by your love of "飲茶" (Yum Cha), the wisdom is presented in nine lanterns constructed from bamboo yum cha steamers. Reminiscent of nineteenth-century gold-mining lamps, the lanterns acknowledge the site of Silent Dialogue's original pre-COVID-19 conception - the Ballarat Mining Exchange - symbolically referencing our starting point and an important site of Chinese-Australia's history.
Illuminated by LED tea lamps, the proverb contained in each lantern lights the way for reflection – on our recent COVID-19 history and earlier times of hardship and resilience when Chinese miners came, as you have said to me, in search of 'the unknown, and a better life'.
Arranged in a vertical formation of interconnecting lanterns, Light with Hope – Elevating 《希望之光 - 提升》2021-22 is a visually arresting installation. It's rather like a totem, a sacred symbol of multi-cultural co-existence in this place. As the viewer moves from one lantern to the next, there is a sense of moving together from baser knowledge to higher reasoning, from one state of collective wisdom to the next.
Would you tell us a bit more about the ideas underpinning the artwork? For instance, I know that during the pandemic, you have dedicated a lot of time to re-reading the Chinese classics of philosophy – perhaps there is a connection that has found its way into the artwork?
JZC—4) For Silent Dialogue/沉默的对话, I wanted to tap further into this idea of communicating across cultures – a sort of silent dialogue through food. At the same time, during COVID-19, many of us have been physically separated from our loved ones and community networks. During this time, we have seen how food can be a source of nourishment for the body and the spirit.
In Chinese culture, taking yum cha together is a way of sharing our love and nurturing the well-being of our loved ones. Through the association with yum cha, the artwork captures this sense of shared hardships during COVID-19.
But yes, I also wanted the artwork to acknowledge early histories and starting points for the project through the association of the lanterns with the nineteenth-century miner’s lamps.
As for the association with Chinese philosophy, yes! During the pandemic, as you know, I have done a lot of re-reading of the Chinese classics. In particular, the “The Book of Changes” or “I-Ching” (also known as Yi Jing), which is one of the most influential classical Chinese texts.
It is not easy to learn and very hard to master. There are three basic principles:
1) (变易 ) everything changes constantly;
2) (简易) change through simplification; and,
3) (不易) even though everything changes, certain things may not.
There are some interesting takeaways from learning the I-Ching. Firstly, you cannot learn the I-Ching in one night - and once you start, you cannot stop! Secondly, you need to keep an open mind - almost playful - to process the principles. The third and most interesting point is Confucius’ conclusion after he studied the I-Ching which is “洁静精微”. The direct translation is “clean, quiet, refined and micro”, which ties into the fundamental Confucian values of charity, honesty, integrity and politeness.
The I-Ching principle “everything changes constantly” has affected me during the pandemic. I have started to experiment in different ways to express myself. I believe that after this unprecedented time has passed, I will have improved and changed both in my art and myself.
ET—cont’d Yes! Knowing of your studies of the I-Ching and its principles, one can see how this philosophy has informed the conception of Light with Hope – Elevating 《希望之光 - 提升》2021-22. We have all been subjected to such an unprecedented period of constant change and pressure. The need to ‘go with the flow’ a little more - for greater tolerance and flexibility - has undoubtedly been at the front of our minds and day to day experiences.
