Pendulum

Curated by Jonathan Kim

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Acculturation is the process of assimilating into a new culture, learning and incorporating the values, beliefs, and customs of something new into that which is already established. It can be a difficult process, fraught with uncertainty and intense change.

Curated by Jonathan Kim, Pendulum sees six second-generation Asian immigrant artists explore this process. Suspended between two cultures, South Australian artists Shaye Dương, Jazmine Deng, Jake Yang, Alice Hu, as well as ej son and Chris Yee (NSW), explore how their arts practices are affected by cultural displacement and the restoration that comes from reconnection, swinging from one to the other like a pendulum.

 

Introspection is a crucial way for Jake to explore the duality of culture formed between traditional Chinese culture and the influence of modern Western culture. Sima Qian(史馬遷), a great Chinese historian, left behind an ancient idiom called Zhiguzijing (志古自鏡). It means to use the past as a mirror for yourself. The image of Jake painted on the surface of the circular wooden boards reminds his past reflected in the mirror. The titles, ‘Fortune says: it’s Brittany, Bitch’, ‘Speak Mandarin, it is an Asset’, and the Devil Boy series seem to deny the traditional Chinese way of looking at him. However, ironically, Jake continues to look into the mirror according to their teachings.

“My body of work explores the concept of the “devil child”, alluding to how a traditional family would view a child that strays away from their cultural expectations. As someone who has neglected a lot of their culture growing up, this idea of following expectations stunted my way of growing and accepting myself.”

• Jonathan Kim

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https://nexusarts.org.au/exhibitions/pendulum/