(dis)location (dis)connect (dis)appearance

June 20 – August 10, 2019

Curated by Diane Hau Yu Wong, Centre A’s 6th Annual Recent Graduates Exhibition focuses on intergenerational relationship gaps, specifically on the loss of language and the resulting erosion of cultural knowledge transfer between generations.

Artists:
Aaniya Asrani
Olivia Chan
Cheyenne Rain LeGrande
Reyhan Yazdani
Lan “Florence” Yee

Curator: Diane Hau Yu Wong

June 20 – August 10, 2019

Opening Reception: June 20, 6-9pm
Stitch n’ Bitch Workshops: Every Saturday, 1-4pm
Film Screening & Talk “All Our Father’s Relations”: July 23, 7-9pm

Junior members of the diaspora often experience a disconnect in traditions, culture, and lived experiences from their previous generations. As a result, they often inhabit a hybrid identity, an in-between of the two cultures, yet not exactly belonging in either one. Through this exhibition, Diane hopes to encourage visitors and artists to reflect upon the conversations they have with the generations before them, how their own family traditions are passed on, and how they are maintained. At the same time, she seeks to provide an opportunity for the artists and the community to continue bridging these gaps, facilitating conversations and actively work towards learning and passing on traditions and culture.

(dis)location (dis)connect (dis)appearance focuses on intergenerational relationship gaps, specifically on the loss of language and the resulting disappearance of the transference of culture and tradition between generations. These complex issues are explored through the diverse lens of the artists, each at a different stage of exploring, rediscovering, and reconnecting with their roots, while others attempt to facilitate communications between generations. At the same time, these works explore themes of family, belonging, domesticity, gender, and migratory identity experiences.

About the Artists:

Aaniya Asrani

Aaniya Asrani is a visual storyteller, multidisciplinary maker, and social practitioner from Bangalore, India. The perplexities of human existence and a curiosity for understanding and sharing perspective is what drives her artistic practice, which looks at storytelling as a catalyst for changing the perspective of the unknowable other. Her current practice is an exploration of the role of care in our everyday lives and the stories we carry with us, hoping to facilitate meaningful conversation between strangers in order to celebrate differences.

Olivia Chan

Olivia Chan’s multimedia practice revolves around themes of family, culture, heritage, and memory. It is heavily informed by her experience as a second-generation Canadian whose family immigrated from Burma. She interrogates processes and consequences of assimilation, such as loss of language, traditions, and culture. Currently, her study has directed her towards the past, looking to the histories of her parents and other family members in order to understand the foundations of where they come from.

Cheyenne Rain LeGrande

Cheyenne Rain LeGrande is a Nehiyaw Isko artist. She is currently living and working on the territories of the Musquem, Squamish and Tsleil-Waututh nations. Cheyenne is a part of the Skwachays Lodge artist residency program and has recently graduated from Emily Carr University where she majored in visual art. She has received the Moment Factory Award for her piece in the Emily Carr grad show. Her work often explores the interconnection between indigenous history and the indigenous body. She works through an interdisciplinary lens; moving through installation, video, sound, and performance art.

Reyhaneh Yazdani

Reyhaneh Yazdani holds a MArch from the University of Tehran, Iran. Her focus on relationality and interdisciplinary approaches towards art and architecture led her to continue her education in the MFA program at Emily Carr University in 2017. Through her work, research, writing and teaching, Yazdani critiques conventional architectural practices and explores how art and design modifications and interventions can activate space. In her current installations, she reflects on her family stories and tries to reread and reinterpret these stories through her material practice. She uses stories to speak of different forms of knowledge/experience transfers between generations, cultures and disciplines. Her installations are performative gestures in the space that tend to express and narrate the poetics of relations.

Lan “Florence” Yee

Lan “Florence” Yee is a 2.5 generation, Cantonese-struggling visual artist based in Tkaronto/Toronto and Tiohtià:ke/Montreal. Their interest in Cantonese-Canadian history has informed an art practice examining diasporic subjectivities through the lens of gender, racialization, queerness, and language. Having graduated with a BFA from Concordia University, they are now pursuing an MFA at OCAD U in Interdisciplinary Art, Media and Design as a SSHRC recipient and Delaney Scholar. They are represented by Studio Sixty-Six.

 

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Acknowledgment

Diane would like to thank Yun-Jou Chang, Emma Richards and the Centre A Board for their help and support throughout this exhibition. She would also like to thank all the participating artist, her family, Bob MacIntyre and the Chinatown community for helping her discover a little more about her own identity. 

This exhibition, a part of Centre A’s Curatorial Skills Development Mentorship program is generously supported by donations from Hank Bull, Beth Carter, Tyler Russell, and A&D Art Consultant as well as sponsorship from McMedia AV Services and UBC Art History, Visual Art and Theory Department. 

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Accessibility: The gallery is wheelchair friendly. If you have specific accessibility needs, please contact us at (604) 683-8326.

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This exhibition takes place on the unceded Coast Salish territories of the Musqueam, Squamish, and Tsleil-Waututh peoples.