HOME MADE: Picturing Chinese Settlement in New Zealand

Artist Talk by Kerry Ann Lee
Date: Wed, July 8th 2009 | Time: 5:30pm - 7:00pm
Admission: Free; donations are welcome.



Since the first gold-seekers arrived in New Zealand in the 1860s, Chinese have been regarded as outsiders to discussions of national identity. The absence of a recognizable Chinatown in New Zealand has meant that many of the Chinese customs inherited from early Cantonese settlers are observed in private within the family home. This condition coupled with emerging research and exposure on the topic offers a chance to define Chinese spaces and author Chinese stories from within the local community.

Kerry Ann Lee is an artist, designer and educator based in Wellington, New Zealand. Her work: Home Made: Picturing Chinese Settlement in New Zealand celebrates an alternative cultural history through cut-paper, paint, found text and images. Mixed media collages, paper-cuttings and a lavishly illustrated artist book, explore both personal and local experiences of Chinese settlement in New Zealand, both the Chinese face behind the takeout counter and the home customs housed behind the plastic ribbon curtain.

This articulate and heartfelt body of work comprising of original collages, paper cuts, prints and installation work, toured as a national exhibition in New Zealand between August 2008 – March 2009 and gathered public attention with feature appearances on Asia Down Under and Saturday with Kim Hill. Paper-cuttings from the exhibition featured as a selected finalist work in the Wallace Art Awards 2008 at The New Dowse Art Museum. Kerry Ann will also be undertaking an artist residency at the Island6 Arts Centre in Shanghai in September 2009.

The talk will provide an overview of the project and expands the discussion on the Cantonese Diaspora to focus on the Chinese settlement in New Zealand.

A limited edition of the Home Made artist book will be available for purchase at the forum.

Kerry Ann Lee’s visit is generously supported by Fulbright New Zealand and the New Zealand Chinese Poll Tax Heritage Trust. This event is organized by Adliana Bahrin, program manager at the AAAC.