Third Space

MA U3: Weaving narratives and interculturalism

| elizarawlings

During my recent presentation on my research paper to my fellow students, I was asked why I talked about being transcultural and not intercultural. I talk about my transculturalism because I see it as a fusion process (as borrowed from physics) where two cultures come together and something completely new emerges (as per the definition by Homi K Bhabha). However, interculturalism is also applicable where I believe is when different cultures come together and intersect. It’s a process of weaving together rather than a fusion. I have not explored much about weaving cultures together although that is very much what I also do to navigate life. So I decided to investigate ways to weave my art to explore the idea of intercultural vs transcultural.

METHOD

I chose two of my existing paintings for this project. To weave them together, I would need to cut them up first.

First chosen painting for cutting up – a piece of work from three years ago, Chinese ink on rice paper on inkjet printed paper:

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A video I made capturing the cutting up process:

https://vimeo.com/1055045797

The cut-up painting:

Cut up painting #1

Second painting chosen for cutting up – a piece of work from three years ago, mixed media on satin canvas:

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Cutting up of satin canvas:

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A video of the cutting up process:

https://vimeo.com/1055046609

The cut-up painting:

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The weaving together by hand of the two cut-up paintings:

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Woven tigether

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Close up of woven painting:

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The completed woven painting, size A0.

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Video with close up of completed woven painting:

https://vimeo.com/1055047150

RESEARCH AND THOUGHTS ON INTERCULTURAL

I did some quick research on the definition of intercultural. The Spring Institute said, ‘Intercultural describes communities in which there is a deep understanding and respect for all cultures. Intercultural communication focuses on the mutual exchange of ideas and cultural norms and the development of deep relationships.’ Many definitions describe intercultural as the coming together of a group of people of different cultures. From the quick research, I did not find any reference to the intercultural experience occurring within one person. I.e. when one person experiences and navigates different cultures within their daily existence.

To help explain my thinking about intercultural vs transcultural, I need to borrow an analogy from A Level chemistry – the definition of a mixture vs a compound.

Below are extracts from a website:

https://bio.libretexts.org/Bookshelves/Introductory_and_General_Biology/Biology_(Kimball)/01%3A_The_Chemical_Basis_of_Life/1.01%3A_Mixtures_and_Compounds

Mixtures are heterogeneous forms of matter. The composition of a mixture is variable with each components retaining its characteristic properties. Its components are easily separated. Examples of Mixtures: soil, ocean water, air, the cytosol of a cell.

In contrast, compounds are homogeneous forms of matter. The components of a compound do not retain their individual properties. E.g. both sodium and chlorine are poisonous; their compound, table salt (NaCl) is absolutely safe and essential to life. Another example of compounds is water (H2O).

It takes large inputs of energy to separate the components of a compound. Similarly, I have previously used the fusion concept from physics to explain the forming of transcultural characteristics. Fusion takes an immense amount of energy to take place. So learning from the analogies from science, I believe that for a transcultural person to go through the cultural transmutation process, it takes much energy and also time for the process to take place. Whereas I do believe that one can start to adapt to an intercultural life more readily. For example, an immigrant child moving to the UK with her family from say, Asia, could be adopting a full British style life at school during the day, then go home after school and be immersed back in her original culture in the home environment. That in my opinion is a form of an intercultural life.

REFLECTIONS

So where am I going with this?

Although I’m using science as analogies to explain intercultural vs transcultural, I am not asserting those thoughts as a definitive explanation, that would be grossly generalising and reductive. They are just ways of sense-making for me and to help me to think through the different cultural concepts. I could do more in depth academic research on the subject and I may well do so later. But for now, I am enjoying the thinking process based on my own experiences as I make art. I don’t believe I am anywhere near having answers, but I have started the thinking process on the subject.

How about the weaving? What did I get out of it?

My weaving experiment here was more of a technical exploration to see what happens when two paintings were woven together with a view of taking the learning to future works. Some questions that I asked myself in reflection were:

– How was the weaving process? It was quite easy and straightforward to execute, but that was because the width of each strip was fairly wide so quite easy to handle. I would like to try and weave with narrower or more irregular strips to challenge the process and create a less uniform pattern.

– What did I think of the outcome aesthetically? I wanted to see if the individual painting images would still be present but more ambiguous. I think I could say yes to this – I could make out the two original images but with missing details adding intrigue.

– How about the cutting process? That was very interesting! The cutting up of my paintings felt brutal but liberating. To not feel too precious about one’s work was definitely liberating. In previous blogs I’ve talk about how I valued the process of making more than the outcome. Once a piece of work is made, I usually feel quite detached about the piece of work. So I hope I will be prepared to cut up more paintings to investigate the weaving of work. Also, the cutting process helped me to release some of the anger and despair that has been building up for me regarding certain global issues going on right now.

– What am I really trying to achieve by the weaving process? I have struggled for some time to express my transculturality through my art. I have written about this before calling it the elusive ‘green’. I kept painting with blue and yellow (metaphorically) but couldn’t yield a satisfactory green. Meaning that I couldn’t come up with something that represented my transcultural / fusion process. When I was asked by my classmate ‘why not intercultural ?’, it occurred to me that interculturalism is also applicable to me, perhaps if I start with that, I might get more insight into the transculturality that I want to express. Imagine if the width of the cut-up painting strips were so narrow that the two images eventually became one, then that would be like a fusion process, or a ‘chemical compound’ would have been created where it’s no longer easy to separate or decipher the two original images. Hence like something new emerging in the third space.

Taking this idea further, I have in the last two years explored much about my transculturality, however, that is only a part of my identity. I consider myself a Hong Kong born British Chinese engineer artist woman business-leader and mother. In examining my identity as a transcultural person, I have not yet explored the dynamics between the engineer and the artist; or the experience of a woman and mother; or my voice as a business-leader vs that as an artist. In an earlier blog, I talked about wanting to re-explore an area that I have found comfort in the past (new objectivity industrial art). How do I combine that desire/need with my ongoing transcultural practice? They seem very different but are all part of me and my identity.

LEARNING

Since I exist in the intersection of multiple aspects of my life, I need to consider how I broaden my identity exploration beyond the current transcultural perspective. I cannot think of how I can express the different identity elements whilst remaining coherent. Perhaps I can make paintings about the different elements and then weave them together to see what images emerge. E.g. weaving together a Bristol streetscape with a Chinese ink painting, or an oil painting of my childhood family dinner with my expression of womanhood. What would that look like? This means instead of creating one image that embodies the different aspects of my intersectionality (like in Akunyili Crosby’s work as described in my research paper) which I have struggled to create satisfactorily, I can create multiple images and weave them together to see what comes out. This doesn’t mean I will adopt the weaving of paintings as a main process for my practice, but it might give me ideas and inspiration to create images (more abstract and ambiguous images) to express my overall identity. Importantly, it gives me a way forward when I’m feeling somewhat stuck with the complexity of too many ideas.

NEXT STEPS

– Cut up two more paintings with narrower strips then weave them together to see how the overall image develops. Use smaller size paintings like A4 so the experimental process can be quicker.

– If the above experiment is successful, then think about what to paint to really explore the different aspects of my identity and then weave the works together to see what comes out.

MA U3: Exploring oil and incorporating photographs

| elizarawlings

Following on from my Unit 2 feedback, I wanted to explore more ways of using oil. Also, from some photography work, I wanted to incorporate more photos into my work. So I started a new piece of work without knowing what I was going to do.

METHOD

I made some black and white inkjet prints of various photos, some old family photos from Hong Kong and some recent Bristol streetscapes that I took with a medium format camera. Since it was around Chinese New Year time, I put in an image of a traditional Chinese Lion used for festive lion dance. I wanted to make that a dominant feature of the composition for the new year.

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I used dispersion liquid to transfer the images onto a primed canvas:

Prints being stuck down using dispersion liquid

Printed images transferred onto the canvas. Due to the inkjet printer image, there was a pink / magenta tint to the transferred images.

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The canvas was covered in a thinned down acrylic wash:

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Charcoal was used to mark out the composition with the Lion being prominent.

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Some iconic buildings from my childhood Hong Kong were added to the background.

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The lion head was painted in oil. But I was not happy with it, it looked too ‘cute’.

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Since this was an experiment in oil, I started to wipe off parts of the image to create different effects.

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A pile of mandarin oranges were added as a traditional Chinese custom during New Year. I wanted to add typical Chinese New Year food to the composition in response to my decision after the Cheongsam series to do some Chinese food painting on a ‘normal’ 2D canvas:

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I experimented with using looser brushstrokes and some thinned oil for the oranges:

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I was still very unhappy with the lion and decided to replace it with a complete family dinner with symbolic dishes for Chinese New Year.

Charcoal marks for New Year food dishes

Thinned oil paint was used to mark out the shapes of the various dishes. Then more details were added to the fish first:

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Close up of fish (stuffed dace fish)

Other dishes were added:

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The prawns’ details were finished with Chinese ink and a peach blossom branch was added (also in Chinese ink) as it was traditional to have this plant at every home in Chinese New Year.

Finished painting – Chinese New Year dinner:

Mixed media on canvas. Size 102×75 cm

Menu:

Centre – stuffed dace fish. Symbol for having surplus meaning never falling short (of money). The word ‘fish’ sounds like surplus.

Top right – stew of shiitake mushrooms, dried oysters, pork belly and spring onions in fermented bean sauce. A traditional new year dish, a large pot is usually made and eaten over several days. ‘Dried oyster’ sounds like ‘good things’ meaning good things will happen.

Bottom right – prawns. Symbol for happiness. ‘Prawn’ sounds like laughter.

Bottom left – mountain of mandarin oranges with a red money packet (lai see), the phrase sounds like ‘gold mountain’ meaning good fortune.

Top left – peach blossoms, the blossoms opening signifies good luck and good fortune.

REFLECTIONS

I am glad I didn’t continue with the lion. It was not how I wanted as it was too detailed and cute. I was happier when the Chinese dinner idea started to develop. I was mindful that I wanted to experiment with Qi Baishi’s idea of painting between likeness and unlikeness. I was hoping the thinner paint and looser brushstrokes would give me more scope to express the unlikeness. I think I made some progress compared to the Family Dinners on the Cheongsam canvases, but there’s still some way to go.

I experimented with incorporating photographs but I think in the end they didn’t really add anything as most of the images were covered up. Perhaps even thinner oil would have left the photo images still partially visible.

I have never managed to combine oil and Chinese ink satisfactorily, I think using the combination on the prawns worked out well. I believe the thinned down oil helped the combination to work so worth bearing this in mind.

LEARNING

Try experimenting with even thinner oil paint and other techniques to apply paint.

Think more about what I want the photos to do (e.g. how much to be revealed) if incorporating photo images, then dilute the paint accordingly to achieve the effect. The experiment here was not fully thought through as I was just playing, but it provided good insight into how easily it was to fully obscure the photos.

Overall the painting was looser and less organised compared to Cheongsam Family Dinners, but I need to be more courageous about achieving unlikeness. Add more of myself to it and think about what feelings and intentions I have – not intentions regarding the composition, but what I’m trying to say.

NEXT STEPS

Experiment more with oil and different applications.

Think more about how I want to use photo images.

Work on the unlikeness. Really go for it.

MA U3: Research on Qi Baishi’s Likeness and Unlikeness

| elizarawlings

RESEARCH

As part of my research to progress my painting practice, I am reading this book about Qi Baishi’s artwork and philosophy:

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Below are some key points and notes I made from reading the text.

Poetry and soul in painting:

Within poetry there is painting; within painting, poetry.

A poet loves the moon and plum blossoms because his heart exists in moonlight and flower fragrance. Moon and plum blossoms are things on which he pins his heart and soul.

The mood of the painting comes from thinking which in turn comes from images.

The limited brush work in the painting evolves and extends continuously according to the logic of life and imaginative logic.

The artist’s mood cannot be fully expressed in the painting; only in part does it locate in the painting, and in part beyond it.

Rules of Chinese painting composition:

Concise, concise and concise – the characteristics of Chinese poetry and freehand brush painting.

Conciseness differs from simplicity. In conciseness, images are refined from complex and detailed phenomena.

Play of space and levels of meaning engage the imagination and intellect and stimulate them.

Conciseness is the law of composition in Chinese freehand brushwork.

Concise images are used to abstract and condense.

Omit irrelevant features and represent with a few strokes. Based on understanding of form.

Likeness and Unlikeness:

Traditional Chinese painting relies on painting from memory and feelings. Unlike western art that encourages sketching on site.

So the flowers in Qi’s works are flowers of both reality and imagination. They are flowers which have been assimilated by the painter’s heart and are permeated with emotional colours and the light of the painter’s ideal.

Qi’s motto: ‘The marvel of a good painting lies between likeness and unlikeness.’

Likeness means the concomitance of an actual object with the painter’s understanding of it. Unlikeness refers to the artist’s abstraction of the object in his treatment of it.

Unlikeness is a phenomenon of sight, likeness of the heart. [Note: I believe the translation of this has swapped the sentences. I think it should be ‘Likeness is a phenomenon of sight, unlikeness of the heart.’]

Concise composition depends on both sight and heart, and also on the combination of realism and romanticism.

Regarding the rendering of light – it is derived from the mind’s eye of the artist thus represent a synthesis. Whatever stands out is bright, obscured is dark.

More on composition:

The opposition and unity in contradictions.

Utilising contrasts.

Qi contrasts sparse and dense, a few scattered twigs on which appear an abundance of fruits and flowers.

Contrasting – large splashes of heavy black ink against large white spaces.

Sturdy pines contrast with tender, delicate grasses; quiet rocks with chirping birds. Wisterias spreading randomly with flowers in neat arrays.

Composition is the specific application of dialectics in its combination of images. Both opposite and complementary to each other. Each shining more brilliantly in the other’s company.

Qi’s motto in full with explanation:

‘The marvel of a good painting lies between likeness and unlikeness. If it is an exact likeness, it is catering to vulgar tastes, but no likeness is simply cheating.’

My analysis of some of the work from the book:

Composition – extensive use of negative space as a form of conciseness, removing the irrelevance.. Contrasting the lack of details (abstraction) of the lotus see pods to the detailed dragonfly.

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The conciseness in the depiction of the tree especially the leaves. The chicks are also reduced to a few round shapes with soft edges but the insect is detailed. All other background has been eliminated.

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Shrimps are one of Qi’s most famous images. There is no background depicted, water, plant life or sea/pond beds have all been eliminated. But there is no doubt that the shrimps are in water and in movement. The depiction of the shrimps’ pincers and tentacles gives the sense of movement. The clustering (3+1) and distribution of the shrimps give a sense of an ongoing story where his painting is a snapshot in time. Qi has spent hours observing shrimps and their movements then painted them from memory thereby adding his own interpretations.

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The three paintings below all show highly abstract plant or fruit with more precisely depicted elements such as insects:

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Neatly laid out flowers all point up among random branches.

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Contrasts of neat streams of flowers among expressive and random branches:

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REFLECTIONS

What has been useful is the confirmation that there is nothing ‘magical’ about painting; there isn’t some kind of concept on a higher level that only certain ‘blessed or gifted’ artists can achieve. As for talent, that is subjective – I believe. Like art, a ‘talented’ abstract artist may produce art that is undesirable in some people’s eyes yet totally desirable for others. Hence I believe talent is subjective.

But painting is difficult – this was said to me by one of my fellow MA students who is an experienced painter. I couldn’t agree more. That’s also why I like painting. It’s a challenge that can be rewarding or frustrating – both are equally energising. Thinking about painting and art making consumes my mind and that must be why I only allowed myself to get deep into it after retirement. Perhaps I knew it would become like this.

I recently started learning about photography, I thought about incorporating that into my practice or even developing that into a main part of my practice – photography is an artistic as well as scientific subject hence I thought it would appeal. I attended a six week course to learn digital photography. I enjoyed the learning very much but I wasn’t as ‘bothered’ as I thought I would be. I think it’s because creating an image was too easy – doesn’t mean the image was any good, it was just too ‘quick and easy’ to get an outcome. Especially with a good digital camera (I bought a used Canon EOS 77D for the ‘new hobby’). The photography tutor was excellent and we did some good walkabout photography exercises in town. Within 20 minutes of walking around, I could produce a large number of images to choose from and there would typically be a couple that felt satisfactory. That’s too quick for me. There was little agony, self doubt or deliberation involved. Perhaps it’s my rebellion against the instant gratification culture that so dominates modern life and I want to exclude myself from that culture. It’s not because I think that’s wrong or want to judge, I just need a slow and drawn out agony to feel alive! In writing this paragraph, I have just come to realise why I paint.

Having said all that, I was recently given my late father-in-law’s treasured Hasselblad medium format film camera. It is a work of art in itself and the quality of engineering (all mechanical) is beyond words. I feel so privileged to have it. I have written another blog to capture my first experience with using it. I think analogue film photography is a different game to digital photography and the slowness of the process feeds my need for the excitement from a ‘drawn out agony’. All the anticipation. I am captivated.

Back to painting and likeness and unlikeness… I learnt a lot about composition in Chinese painting. That was very helpful. However, I also work extensively with composition in western art which is a different approach. So once again there is conflict in how I would bring the two together. Another opportunity to explore the third space where two cultures come together to create something new…

Another key learning is the likeness coming from sight and unlikeness coming from the heart. The latter being the artist’s influence or interpretation of the reality – this I have not done so much of and I need to work on this aspect a lot more. I recognise that I often rush into a painting because I’m so excited about a new idea. I have learnt that I need to take time to think about what and how I feel about the subject, what I’m painting and let that feeling play out more on the canvas with the subject I’m painting being the ‘carrier’ of that sentiment. Whoa! Easy to say!

Perhaps I can do some free writing before starting a painting to get insight into my thinking and feelings about whatever I’m making.

LEARNING

– Use conciseness and negative space to create impact and tension on the canvas.

– As I approach a painting (or any artwork), think more about how I feel about the topic and less about the detail of the representation. Incorporate more the heart and less of the sight to achieve a better balance of likeness and unlikeness.

– I have learnt about why I paint through this research and my reflections.

– I have yet to resolve the conflict between the different approaches between Chinese and Western art composition. What does transcultural mean in terms of composition when they are so different?

NEXT STEPS

– Take my learning forward to my next painting especially the part of applying the heart more to create unlikeness.

MA U3: Cheongsam series – Family dinner #2

| elizarawlings

After making Family Dinner #1 (image below), I proceeded to make #2 with the learning.

Family Dinner #1

METHOD

I was overall satisfied with how the new Cheongsam pattern worked out. But I felt the measurements needed to be more generous if I were to wear the canvas because of the stiffness of the material. If it were too tight then it would be difficult to put on. Hence I modified the pattern to make it wider.

Pattern ready for cutting

I also learnt from the last dress painting that it was difficult to paint the back of the dress if the dress was fully sewn up and placed on the canvas – it was impossible to access the back while the oil on the front was drying for weeks.

Therefore I experimented in this case with not sewing up the sides and draping the dress with the back part of the canvas hanging off the back of the easel. The plan is to paint the front then turn the board to paint the back.

Back of the dress draped over the board

This family dinner has a main dish of ‘flower crab cooked in a clay pot’. So learning from my Chinese painting class – I studied the anatomy first and did a few ink drawings of crabs:

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Then I chose the colour of the background based on another Chinese dinner service. It’s the same pattern of the yellow one I used on Family Dinner #1, but of a turquoise colour:

I experimented with different level of tinting to get the right colour and not too dark:

The composition was developed on my sketchbook then marked out using black willow charcoal on the canvas:

Composition drawings

Then I decided that I would sew up the sides of the dress because I felt it would be too difficult to turn the canvas inside-out to sew once it has been painted with oil. So I reverted back to the process I used previously after much consideration. I also used Velcro much more extensively along the complete opening of the right chest and side instead of using a zip or buttons because it would be hard to sew a zip or hand-sew fasteners due to the thick canvas. Hot glue was used to fix the Velcro in addition to the Velcro tape adhesive to ensure it was firmly in place.

Sides of the dress were sewn up

I started with the ‘pan fried sliced luncheon meat’. I once did a tinting paint chart of the different red oil paints I had. It was very useful to choose the colour of luncheon meat from the chart. I chose the shade according to my childhood memory – the colour of artificially-pink meat is difficult to forget!

Then I proceeded to loosely paint and mark out the rest of the composition.

Adding chicken and green beans
Adding clay pot flower crab and Campbell’s

Then more detail painting of the luncheon meat with some yellow edges for the oil used for pan frying:

Adding details to the whole salt baked chicken:

Around this time I received my Unit 2 feedback from my tutor with comments that made me reflect on how I apply the oil paint. So I experimented with some looser strokes on the crab shell.

The painting was finished by completing the Campbell’s alphabet soup and adding pattern details from the dinner service around the dishes. Pink satin fastening frogs were added as finishing touch.

Finished work – Family Dinner #2:

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REFLECTIONS

I really enjoyed making this painting. Food is such a key part of Chinese and Hong Kong culture that appreciating food is deep in my DNA. The more I paint these dinners, the more I realise that it’s not just the eating that I enjoy, but the painting of food as well. Working from memory has been great, thinking back to all the meals where these dishes were eating – at home as well as at restaurants.

Some of the unhappy experiences from our family dinners that I talked about in the reflections for Family Dinner #1 did not enter my consciousness for some reason. I realised that some of those experiences were dish dependent. Perhaps the dishes depicted here were ‘safe’ dishes without chances to go wrong. Dinner #1 featured a steamed fish – that was always challenging…

Part way through making this painting I received my Unit 2 feedback and it has been very thought-provoking. It made me immediately reevaluate how I applied oil painting – perhaps I have been too ‘one-dimensional’. Always applying the same (fairly thick) way. I tried a looser approach on the crab shell and was happy with the outcome. I have been thinking about that constantly and I need to experiment much more. How to use paint in a way to depict my distant and fading memory?

The Unit 2 feedback also made me think more deeply about why I am painting on Cheongsam dresses. Why dresses? Why Cheongsam and is the time well-spent in making dress-canvases? There is a lot to think about and reflect on from the Unit 2 feedback and I will write a dedicated blog for that.

I was going to make another cheongsam dress painting after this one, but I think I will make this decision after fully reflecting on my Unit 2 feedback.

LEARNING

– Be more flexible and creative in using oil. Try different thick- and thinness to create impact, to tell the story.

– Doing something just because I enjoy it is not enough a reason to do it. Need to consider more deeply about why – I believe I do this and reflect already but perhaps need to go deeper to examine my reasons.

– In terms of the Cheongsam making process, the increased use of Velcro as fasteners was a success and should be used in future dresses. Using hot glue to fix the Velcro was also a good idea.

– Overall, the pattern development has gone well and I believe I have a well tested and suitable method of producing a Cheongsam painting canvas.

NEXT STEPS

– Experiment with thinning oil and layering.

– Explore ways to depict fading memory without being overly detailed.

– Complete and capture my reflections from Unit 2 feedback. Write a dedicated blog for that and determine next steps to develop my practice. What to do if not Cheongsam paintings?

– Finish the back of the Cheongsam when the front is dried.

Chinese painting – the art of using seals

| elizarawlings

I have been learning Chinese painting for three years in parallel to my other courses such as the MA Fine Art programme at Central Saint Martins. Collectively, they help me to develop my transcultural art practice.

My latest learning was about the use of seals. Here is some information from the Hong Kong Art Museum about the use of seals on painting and calligraphy:

https://hk.art.museum/en/web/ma/resources/archive/education-resources/resources/vermillion-impressions-chinese-painting-and-calligraphy-seals.html

The seal is applied at the end of the painting process. Since the seal paste is usually a permanent colour of Vermillion (cinnabar red), it cannot be erased hence its placement has to be considered and applied carefully. Otherwise, it could ruin the painting composition.

For Chinese artists, they can use different types of seals. They typically have one or more name-seals and other optional mood-seals. My late mother left behind several of her seals that I have been studying and using for my paintings. I asked my Chinese painting tutor whether it was appropriate for me to use another artist’s (i.e. my mother’s) seals. My tutor said, ‘she was your mum, I don’t think she would mind. Anyway, who is going to check?’ Since my mother was an established painter, her seals were beautifully carved from quality stones. I have enjoyed discovering them and playing with them.

Since my last lesson, I have been practicing signing my name in Chinese calligraphy and then putting two seals on paintings. These experiments have been challenging in a fun way.

1. A vase of flowers in Chinese ink on Xuan (rice) paper. The calligraphy says it is by me (my full name with surname) and there are two seals:

– The seal at the bottom left corner belonged to my mother. It is a mood-seal with the meaning of ‘transcendence’ – a spiritual state of moving beyond physical needs and realities.

– The seal at the top right is my new mood seal that I ordered from Hong Kong through my tutor. It means ‘third space’ and is a fundamental element of my art practice – exploring the ‘third space’ which describes my existence. Third space here is as described by Homi K. Bhabha in his book ‘The Location of Culture’.

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2. A simple painting of a flower branch in a small vase. The calligraphy says it is by me (name only, no surname) with two seals:

– bottom left: my full name seal with surname.

– Top right: ‘Transcendence’.

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3. A small vase with a branch and leaves. My name in calligraphy with two seals:

– Bottom left: my full name.

– Top right: one my of mother’s seals but I do no know what it says! It is of an ancient script and beyond my knowledge. I will keep researching to see if I can find out. I have subsequently found out by seeing on one my mother’s paintings that I have put it upside down!

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4. My cat Tom who is sadly not with us anymore. No calligraphy with two seals:

– My full name and the upside down seal!

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LEARNING

Using the seal properly is an art form that requires skills which comes with experience. The placement of the seal as well as how it is applied are both important. Too much paste would ‘flood’ the carving giving a red mess, too little paste would make part of the seal invisible, i.e. an incomplete image. So it needs to be just right.

The placement is even more challenging. The use of negative space is critical in Chinese painting – my Chinese painting tutor said the extensive use of negative space was a key differentiation between Chinese and ‘Western’ art. Placing the seal after the painting is completed means the seal interrupts the negative space hence it needs to be done in a way that maintains the harmony of the composition whilst enhancing the composition. While writing this I realise it is impossible to articulate how to do it! What I have learnt from the above paintings are that if I am using two seals then place them diagonally on the composition and use one large and one smaller seal, i.e. do not use two seals of the same size. The non-uniformity makes the composition more interesting.

My tutor said the only way to learn was to keep doing it, keep practicing, then eventually it would come naturally. I have to take her words for it as I don’t have any other options! I used to only put seals on paintings that I was happy with, but my tutor said I should do it on every painting in order to practice. So that is what I will do!

NEXT STEPS:

– Keep practicing using seals on all my Chinese paintings.

– Pay more attention to how other Chinese artists use their seals – study my mother’s paintings and my painting books more carefully.

MA U2: Research Paper – Reflections and learning

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Heron – Chinese ink on rice paper

I recently completed a research paper titled:

By analysing the work of Njideka Akunyili Crosby and Fiona Rae this paper will argue that transcultural art can enhance understanding of the human experience amid unprecedented levels of migration and displacement.

A copy can be found here:

MA U2: Research Paper

I have enjoyed working on the research paper because it gave me the opportunity to analyse the work of two of my favourite transcultural artists. I like studying other transcultural artists’ work because I usually find resonance and they help to inform my practice.

Below is an extract from my MA Study Statement where I detailed my objectives for my narrative development work.

I believe doing the research paper has helped me to address Objectives ii and iii and the reasons will be explained within this blog. This blog captures my thinking, questions and reflections along the journey of writing the research paper with a learning summary at the end.

REFLECTIONS

As stated in Objective ii, I want to use research and academic rigour to bring clarity to my thinking in examining my narrative which is based on the idea of The Third Space.

The Third Space

I first found out about Homi K Bhabha’s notion of the Third Space three years ago when I watched a lecture by the artist Njideka Akunyili Crosby (link included later in the text). In the lecture, Akunyili Crosby explained Bhabha’s Third Space and directly located her art practice within her Third Space. I found such strong resonance with her explanation and her work that I started to research Bhabha’s work, especially his book The Location of Culture:

Bhabha, H. (1994) The Location of Culture. London: Routledge

Bhabha uses concepts such as mimicry, interstice and hybridity in the book and his work was deeply rooted in colonial and postcolonial theories. I found his work very useful in helping me to unpack some of my personal experiences, growing up in colonial Hong Kong, then migrating to the UK in 1980 and now living as a British Chinese. Understanding his work has helped me in the sense-making of parts of my transcultural journey and I have been expressing some of my insights in my identity-based art practice.

So I was excited to approach my research paper using Bhabha’s work as the theoretical foundation to analyse the artistic expressions of the two chosen transcultural artists to examine how the notion of the ‘Third Space’ had influenced transcultural artists. However, my supervisor (rightly) challenged me on why I chose Bhabha’s thirty year old theory and if it was still relevant today.

To justify the use of Bhabha’s theory was a good challenge. For me, Bhabha’s theory was personal, it helped me to unpack issues that have puzzled or troubled me from my childhood in colonial Hong Kong as well as living as a migrant in the UK. So for me, Bhabha’s work is relevant for me today despite it being written thirty years ago. However, I knew that only putting in my personal experience in the research paper as a justification would not be sufficient or academically robust!

I started by researching texts on the meaning of ‘culture’ which helped to anchor my thoughts before proceeding onto the meaning of ‘transcultural’. I then researched more recent academic texts in transculturalism that either directly referenced Bhabha in their research, or described contemporary hybrid existence that reflected the cultural negotiations within the Third Space as asserted by Bhabha. The challenge of a limited word count meant I had to select the most relevant works to focus on for this paper. Examples of texts that I used to justify using Bhabha’s work are as follows along with the lecture by Akunyili Crosby where she located her practice within the Third Space. I felt the latter was the most powerful example of Bhabha’s contemporary relevance:

Iyall Smith, K.E. and Leavy, P. (eds) (2009) Hybrid identities: theoretical and empirical examinations. Chicago, IL: Haymarket Books (Studies in critical social sciences book series)

Grunitzky, C (2004) Transculturalism: how the world is coming together.  New York: TRUE Agency

The Museum of Contemporary Art (2018) Njideka Akunyili Crosby [Online Video] Available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pUZijlho9CM (Accessed 14/05/2024)

Contemporary relevance of my research

My supervisor also suggested that I should extend my scope of research to find relevance in my topic in the contemporary world because merely analysing artistic expressions was not enough. I should seek to ‘go deeper and richer’. This was a bigger challenge than justifying Bhabha’s text.

In my Study Statement Objective iii, I had always planned to expand my practice from personal identity to societal issues to give it a wider purpose. At the time of writing my Study Statement, I had in mind to expand towards the area of postcolonial theories because of my background and also my interest in Bhabha’s work. However, I did not feel the urge to bring postcolonialism into my research paper right now because there has been something else more pressing preying on my mind. I have been very troubled by the ongoing escalation of wars or conflicts around the world and the sheer amount of displaced people as a result. To the extent that I fear society might become immune to such news. The issues surrounding immigration have been at the top of political agendas around the world especially in countries that continue to hold power. Furthermore, closer to home for me, over 200,000 Hong Kong people have moved to the UK in the last three years as voluntary international migrants with the special visa scheme granted by the British Government. I wonder how they are managing in a country with a very different culture after uprooting from their homeland under the circumstances. So all these thoughts have been on my mind.

Then as I started to analyse the works of Akunyili Crosby and Fiona Rae who are both migrants, I was drawn to the extent of the sense-making in their work, the way they use their art to respond to and make sense of their changing environments as they migrated from one country to another. I found much resonance with their work. Bhabha’s notion of the Third Space gave me a structure to analyse and contrast their artistic expressions. It helped me to find differences and similarities. The two artists expressed their transcultural sense-making very differently but their wish or need to go through that sense-making was a common theme. It brought home to me that every migrant or displaced individual have that need to make sense of their new or changing environment and that is fundamental for survival – this was explained and verified when I researched Damasio’s texts such as:

Damasio, A. (2021) Feeling & Knowing. New York: Pantheon Books.

I proceeded to try to bridge my transcultural artists research with this very human ‘need’ that must be happening to millions of people right now around the world (281 millions in 2014 according to The International Organization of Migration).

However, a fundamental question remained – so what? So what if migrant artists share the same human experiences as other migrants? It is not exactly a grand revelation. I instinctively felt that there was something more that a transcultural artist could do than just make art, their stories are human as well as relevant and can enhance our understanding of the human conditions involved or perhaps something even more. So I continued to research hybrid identities, the role of artists, transcultural art etc. hoping to find some inspiration. A ‘lightbulb moment’ came to me from:

Petersen, A.R. (2017) Migration into art: transcultural identities and art-making in a globalised world. Manchester: Manchester university press (Rethinking art’s histories)

Petersen proposes the notion of ‘the artist as a migrant worker’ and explains that instead of cementing the myth of the artist as a detached creator, the proposed notion invites a more profound exploration of how the artist’s role can be reconfigured as that of a translator, mediator and bridge-builder between people and cultures. Petersen contends that art can be an instrument of orientation and has the ability to negotiate contradictions and complexities.  Petersen uses a botanical metaphor to describe a migrant’s way of forming affiliations as ‘radicant’, planting roots along its travel like an ivy or strawberry plant, as oppose to a native, or ‘radicle’, that plants a root from it’s original location. Researching Petersen’s text gave me the idea of using transcultural art to help migrants with their personal sense-making and enhance their sense of belonging through finding resonance.

Having analysed the different texts that I researched, I further assert that the native can also benefit from critically understanding transcultural art in order to better appreciate the human experience amid the unprecedented levels of migration that will likely impact all aspects of society whether one is a migrant or a native. I felt that there was also a place for transcultural art to humanise the migration experience so as to prevent society from becoming immune to the ongoing conflict situations and the resultant displacement of people. This is an area that I would have wanted to expand on more but was constrained by word count, therefore I am considering doing further research on this subject.

LEARNING

I have learnt a lot through doing the research paper and it would take too long to detail everything here. In the context of my art practice, the key learning points for me in doing the research paper are as follows.

– Through a deeper insight into Bhabha’s work, I have cemented my belief of its relevance in today’s society despite being written thirty years ago. I also feel more strongly than before that it is relevant to me and I will continue to use it as a theoretical foundation for my personal inquiries. Furthermore, through my research, I have found other more recent texts that will help to broaden my thinking in the topic of cultural hybridity and inform my contemporary art practice. This learning has directly helped me with Objective ii in my Study Statement.

– Analysing the work by the two transcultural artists alongside academic texts has made me think more deeply about what sense-making means. Of course, I understand the dictionary meaning of the phrase but I am beginning to grasp what sense-making feels like. To the extent that after finishing a recent painting, I really felt that I had gone through a sense-making process. It felt like a new enlightenment for me. It still feels nebulous and I hope to grasp it more firmly as I develop my practice.

– I have learnt about the magnitude of the number of international migrants and displaced people in 2024. I knew it was large and increasing, but it was beyond my expectation. Also, it was useful to study research about what causes feelings of isolation for migrates and how senses of belonging are developed. I appreciate I have only touched on the surface of those profound subjects through a 4,000 word research paper and I am compelled to find out more.

– The research has helped me to find relevance for transcultural art and propose a role for the transcultural artist in our society amid unprecedented migration and displacement. As a transcultural artist, I find this exciting and it supports the pursuit of my Study Statement Objective iii – finding a wider purpose for my practice. However, I need to be mindful of some risks…

– I am mindful that a 4,000 word research paper could only touch on the surface of all the issues and ideas that I have discussed. Much more research needs to take place and ideas need to be rigorously examined with a wider audience than just myself before I can really claim the location of my practice within this wider purpose. Otherwise, I could be at risk of being naïve which would not help me and definitely not help the 281 million migrants and displaced people.

NEXT STEPS

Since I have enjoyed writing this research paper and I feel strongly about the topic, I am considering doing further research as part of my personal and practice development.

MA U2: Cheongsam Series – Family dinner #1

| elizarawlings

After finishing three other Cheongsam paintings, I started this work with a new Cheongsam canvas design and thicker gauge canvas as described in this blog:

https://eliza-rawlings.com/2024/11/04/ma-u2-cheongsam-dress-canvas-new-method-and-design/

I then explored the possible subjects for this painting and decided to focus on food. In the last two ‘food’ Cheongsam paintings, food was used as a racial identity metaphor. Food in the context of this new painting is about memories of family dinners in the 1970s when I was growing up in Hong Kong. Food was and still is a very important part of the Hong Kong culture. Family dinners are very important and day-to-day life often centres around family dinners. The Hong Kong society is a fusion of many cultures and this is strongly reflected in its food. I want to make a series of paintings to explore my childhood memories and tell my transcultural stories through my family dinners.

METHOD

The idea of making paintings about my family dinners came to me when I visited my sister and she cooked a dish of steamed whole seabass with ginger, spring onions, shiitake mushrooms and coriander in soy sauce. She reminded me this was exactly the same recipe that our late mother used to cook for our family dinners. Seeing the dish and her description triggered many deeply buried memories. I started to remember all the different dishes that my mother use to cook – all those memories that I have long forgotten. I took a photo of my sister’s steamed fish as I wanted to incorporate that into my painting.

As soon as I returned home, I started to research images of dishes that I have had and worked on the composition. Below are some examples created using Adobe Fresco:

Here is a video of the Fresco creation process:

I also used my sketchbook to experiment with different compositions.

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The previous Cheongsam paintings were in acrylic on calico canvas and I wanted to paint in oil for this work because I enjoy painting in oil and I wanted to return to oil after not doing so for some time. Also, I had in mind that the toppings for the fish would be ‘piled up’ and I felt that oil paint would give me more freedom and time to play with getting the right texture. I usually just start painting straight away on the canvas, but on this occasion, something was holding me back and I had the urge to do some study drawings first to give me time to think about the details and composition. Below is the study drawing for the fish dish:

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At the top of this blog, I listed an earlier blog about using a new design for the Cheongsam with thicker canvas material. This latest dress design and material combination caused the waist area to crease on the mannequin. So far, I have painted all the previous Cheongsams on a mannequin. However, for this one, I felt that it needed to be painted flat to eliminate the creases during the painting process. So I moved the canvas from the mannequin to the easel.

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Painting moved to the easel so that I could paint on a flat surface:

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I proceeded to mark out the composition starting with the centre piece – the steamed fish. The placement of the fish dish is reflective of a Chinese family dinner where the steamed fish (if on the menu) would typically be placed in the centre as the signature dish.

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Having roughly marked out the fish dish, I added a plate of steamed baked beans. Since Hong Kong is/was such a fusion of different cultures and heavily influenced by the British due to colonialism, it was not unusual to have imported tinned food served alongside traditional Chinese dishes in my family. In hindsight, it sounds strange and funny to serve these two very different dishes together; but at the time it was the most natural thing – food was just food especially for a child. I never thought about their origins or the reasons that caused these two dishes to came to be served next to each other. I remember my mother calling baked beans ‘pork beans’ at the time and I remember at times there were small pieces of pork fat among the beans. I researched this and found that manufacturers did put pieces of pork in with the beans but removed them due to World War II meat rationing. I am not sure if they reintroduced pork in the 1970s or if what we ate were left over from the old pre-war stock!

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Other dishes were gradually added to the menu, each dish having their individual significance in the role they played in our family dinner. I also enlarged the two fish to give them more prominence and I wanted a tight composition as from memory, dinner tables in Hong Kong were always crowded with food.

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I tried using charcoal with oil which I had never done before and below are photos of the initial experiment on oil-paper:

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The experiment was not satisfactory because the charcoal did not work well on oil-paper, so I returned to experimenting on the canvas:

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I was pleased with the charcoal effect and proceeded to paint the fish:

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Toppings of spring onions, shiitake mushrooms etc. were added in thick layers of oil paint:

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Time to add the dessert – Del Monte fruit cocktail.

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To complete the composition, I added pattern details from the Chinese dinner set that my parents used at the time around the various dishes on the painting.

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The completed front part of the Cheongsam painting:

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The painting was put back onto a mannequin as I wanted the oil paint to cure according to the shape that it would eventually be displayed in. Then green satin ‘frog’ fasteners were added to complete the Cheongsam look.

Below are images of the finished front half of the painting with –

-Steamed whole fish with spring onions, ginger, coriander and sliced shiitake mushrooms in soy sauce;

-Braised pork belly with preserved mustard greens;

-Gai Lan (greens) with oyster sauce;

-Steamed baked beans (imported) and

-Del Monte fruit cocktail (imported).

‘Family dinner #1‘, oil and charcoal on 240gsm cotton canvas. Size: 98 x 68 x 28cm.

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REFLECTIONS

So many thoughts and memories went through my mind while making this painting, it is hard to know where to start for my reflections. Like I have done before, I will use ‘free writing’ to capture them as they come into my consciousness as I write.

– Only in hindsight when I am doing this painting did I realise what a strange fusion of cuisine we experienced growing up in Hong Kong. Not only because imported tinned food like ‘pork beans’ (now known as baked beans) were served alongside carefully prepared Cantonese dishes, but the fact that the beans were steamed in a wok to heat up was rather amusing. Since my mother would not have known how baked beans were meant to be served, so steaming in a wok was her default method. As children, we loved mixing the baked beans with our boiled rice in our bowls because of the sugar and salt in the beans. Like many children all over the world, we (sadly) appreciated the processed food more than the poor mother’s fresh cooking!

– My father was the patriarch. He expected a well cooked meal twice a day (he used to come home for lunch). If the meal was not up to standard then there would be consequences. He was not physically violent but there would be a ‘dark cloud’ over our dinner, eaten in silence with the children exchanging glances but no one dared utter a word. The rejected dishes would be sent back to the kitchen to be remedied if possible (if overcooked then not possible).

– So my mother had to deliver two perfect cooking performances per day, everyday. Chinese cooking can be challenging, to get the taste balance, texture, freshness, aesthetics (just to name a few requirements) correct for every dish is very demanding. Especially when the ‘judge’ had high expectations. For example, for a steamed whole fish, the fish had to be cooked just right, not overcooked or undercooked – this is challenging even for restaurant chefs. If there was steamed fish then as soon as my father sat down at the table, he would split the fish open along the spine bone with his chopsticks and examine the ‘colour’ of the flesh, if there was any hint of pink along the spine ( meaning undercooking) then the chopsticks would be slammed down as a gesture of disapproval, no words needed to be said and the dish would be taken back to be remedied. It is no wonder my mother sometimes used Western tinned food to make up the number of dishes to get by. Since my father worked for the Hong Kong Government and was a life-long civil servant to the ‘Colonial Crown Service’, he was very accepting of Western tinned food because we (the colonised) were led to believe that anything from the West was superior. So in this context, colonialism in fact brought with it some occasional relief for my mother in her job of family meals planning.

– I think I chose a bright yellow background for my Cheongsam dinner because I love food and enjoying good food makes me happy as it is such a key part of my heritage. I always wanted family dinners to be fun, bright and cheerful. Although there were often ‘dark clouds’ that loomed over our family dinners, as kids, we would find reasons to giggle at the dinner table – it was our way of responding to the situation through kids’ humour.

– The background yellow is also similar to one of the dinner sets that my parents had hence I incorporated some of its design onto the dress. I will elaborate about the dinner set design on the back of the dress as it has an interesting history.

– There were other back stories to the dishes on the painting and on how ‘the family dinner’ was often where the dynamics of my parents’ relationship played out. I am reluctant to detail all of them because it would be unfair to my parents who are not around to say whether they wanted their stories to be told. Also, I am not sure if I am ready to express everything yet.

– I wonder, how does one find out if the dead would want their stories told and how does one decide whether to tell them anyway? Also, I can only tell a story through my lens, so whose story would I be telling?

– Recently, I have been thinking a lot about ‘process vs outcome’ in my practice. I have thought more deeply about this since I started to make Cheongsam paintings. I think it is because the work takes longer and involves more complexity, so the extensive creative process gives me time to think more deeply. Especially with this Family Dinner painting – the composition is more complex than the previous ones and painting in oil takes longer which is part of why I love to paint in oil – the process and materiality force me to take my time. The surrendering of agency to the process elates me. My thinking during my making process comes in many forms, such as reflections and memory recalls that I would often incorporate into my painting, or ‘put aside’ in my ideas bank for future paintings. All these thoughts go towards the sense-making of my journey, my identity and the world around me. It is right now at this very moment in time while writing this set of reflections that I have come to truly understand what ‘sense-making’ means – to me. I wish I could bottle this moment before the thought eludes me.

– I wrote in my research paper about two transcultural artists and their sense-making that takes place on the canvas. For the paper, I researched about sense-making and how that process fundamentally supports the human survival. In the context of migration, people displacement or in a transcultural setting, where the environment is new or constantly changing – I believe the opportunity to reflect and make sense of one’s experience is essential to survival in a meaningful way; to feel belonged in the world and not merely to exist. Unfortunately for many, the quest for physical survival can be overwhelming therefore depriving them of the opportunity for the much needed sense-making.

LEARNING

When I first started planning the structure of my blogs at the start of my MA programme, I had planned for the REFLECTIONS section to be free-thinking and free-flowing, capturing whatever came to mind related to the work or during the making process. The LEARNING section is there to bring the thinking back to the context of my practice to extract any practice-related learning and plan the next steps. This structure has helped me to develop my practice so far and is becoming even more important as my reflections become more extensive and ‘free’. So I will now try to extract some learning from the this piece of work and the above reflections.

– Referring to my thoughts on ‘process vs outcome’, there is increasing clarity for me as to why I am not always bothered about the work once it is finished. For me, the work is a way to provide a process – the process is more precious to me. The process gives me quality thinking time and it ‘walks with me’. I enjoy making very much, but it is the making while thinking or reflecting that is the most valuable for me.

– So what am I going to do with this realisation, or confirmation of what is valuable for me in my practice? I don’t know yet, maybe I don’t need to do anything to bring these thoughts to a conclusion, perhaps it is just a beginning with no end – that feels exciting. So I will go with ‘it’ and try not to over think ‘it’.

– I have thought a lot about how I could capture some of the more abstract elements that came out during the making process, perhaps onto a piece of physical work – could be painting, writing, 3D etc.. I remember in a much earlier blog, I talked about wanting to find ways to express my thoughts through abstraction as that might liberate me to express more freely without the confinement of physical preconceptions. A specific image that has been recurring in my mind since finishing the Family Dinner painting was the pink tinge (of blood) that would sometimes be visible along the fish’s spine as my father parted the flesh of an undercooked fish with his chopsticks. For me, that tinge of pink symbolised innocence and trouble at the same time. I need to do something with that pink to get it out of my head.

– As I was making this painting, many memories of other interesting family dishes and stories came to mind and I am bursting to paint more dinners to capture them.

– I also need to complete the back of this dress. I had originally thought about painting a second dinner on the back, but I have decided to not do this because I want to save some of the dishes for other dresses as I want to make a series of several ‘Family Dinner’ paintings. Also, I want to paint the design of the dinner set that my parents had because it has an interesting history.

– As for the new Cheongsam sewing pattern that I used for this painting canvas – I am very pleased with the new design because it does not have any darts so the canvas can be painted flat which means I can use thicker canvases and paint in oil which is my preferred medium for this current series of painting.

– The new Cheongsam canvas design also means I have reduced the making time of the canvas from two days down to around half a day. This improvement was due to a simpler design and my experience gained in making these canvases – I am now more confident in sewing with my machine and quicker in trouble-shooting. This means I have more time for the other parts of the creative process.

– A key learning in making Family Dinner #1 was to take time in my making. I have in the past rushed my work, for no specific reason but to just ‘get things done’. The study drawing of the steamed fish was invaluable for me and gave me the confidence to experiment and take chances when painting on the canvas because of my enhanced observations. I now appreciate why artists make study drawings!

NEXT STEPS

– Paint the back of Family Dinner #1 with the family dinner set design.

– Start to research and make Family Dinner #2.

– Continue to take time in my making, e.g. allow time to make study drawings and appreciate materiality.

– Experiment and play: do some abstract paintings of ‘the pink tinge’ to explore how to capture some of the ‘magic’ that I have felt during my making process.

MA U2: Cheongsam series – reworking Appropriation. Appropriation.

| elizarawlings

After completing two Cheongsam paintings (‘You’re a banana’ and ‘No, I’m an egg’), I wanted to revisit the first Cheongsam painting I made – ‘Appropriation. Appropriation.’ because I felt it was an unfinished piece. I knew it was unfinished at the time but I was eager to move onto the banana and egg paintings, so I left it. After some time had passed, I felt the urge to finish it off. The areas that I was not happy about were:

– The lack of depth in my representation of what I was trying to say.

– In fact, it wasn’t clear what I was trying to say and how it was relevant to my practice.

– It felt like an unfinished or abandoned piece of work.

I am not always bothered about abandoning work, but so much effort had already gone into this piece, the making of the dress, sewing and painting etc.. I felt it would be worthwhile finishing it.

Below is the unfinished work from earlier and the original blog about my feelings towards the Blue Willow pattern:

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MA U2: Cheongsam Series #4 – Appropriation. Appropriation.

METHOD

In carrying out additional research for this piece of work, I referenced a book about the Willow pattern:

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In my earlier blog, I talked about the incorrect depiction of a tree on the Willow design. What should have been a large pine tree that was common in Chinese paintings, was instead depicted in a way that led many to believe it to be a disproportionally large fruit tree. This particular tree was discussed extensively in the ‘Willow!’ book with many suggestions of the different types of fruit tree that it could have been, but without any clue about what tree it really was. So to expose this classic example of an appropriation of something without having basic understanding of what was being appropriated, I decided to add the said tree to my Cheongsam painting and copied some texts from the book to highlight such cultural challenges.

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Texts that were added as part of a fence on the painting were copied from the above pages describing the (pine) tree as leafless, bulbous, grotesquely laden… apple tree. Close up of the texts copied are as follows:

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Another paragraph was copied onto my painting which gave insight into the attitude towards Asia during the time when the Willow pattern was designed:

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Close up of the texts copied:

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The ‘bulbous and grotesquely laden fruit tree’ was added to my painting:

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Masking tape was used to mark out the shape of the fence for the texts:

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The second set of texts was added on the back of the painting next to the large tree with some ornate borders like those on the edge of some Willow plates:

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The finished painting:

Back view
Front view – left
Front view – right

REFLECTIONS

I am pleased that I have reworked this painting because my practice is not just about making work, it is also about examining issues relating to my identity which includes understanding my heritage. In the case of the Willow Pattern, it highlighted the casual and incorrect appropriation of Asian art during the colonial era. My original idea for this piece was always to highlight the mistakes made in the Willow Pattern appropriation. In particular, the pine tree. I have researched numerous design texts about the Willow Pattern and most of them express puzzlement about the disproportionally large ‘fruit tree’ towering over the building. The debate surrounded what kind of fruit it was, apple, pomegranate, peach etc.. All acknowledging that no fruit tree could grow to several storeys high hence description such as ‘grotesquely laden’ was used here. I am certain that if any Chinese artists were asked, they would have said it was a (badly depicted) pine tree.

My research shows that there are many species of pine trees in China. Ranging from the common Pinus tabuliformis which can be 20-30 metres tall, to the famous Pinus hwangshanensis (or Huangshan pine) with some being 1,500 years old. Pine trees are often depicted in Chinese paintings. The pine needles are typically formed in dense round clusters:

The pine needles are often depicted as below in traditional Chinese paintings with a few needles radiating from the centre of the cluster and a thin wash of colour (usually green) to give a sense of the overall round shape of the cluster of needles.

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Here are my pine tree paintings that I made in one of my Chinese brush painting lessons, the left hand image shows the round clusters of needles with a green wash:

My Chinese pine tree paintings

Carvings of pine trees often take on a more accentuated round shape such as this example:

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The Chinese pine tree was depicted as follows by the Williow Pattern designers:

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The Willow Pattern became very popular in Britain as a result of demands generated for Chinese artefacts during the British colonial period. Subsequent generations of people who buy or study the Willow Pattern have wondered what tree that was and due to the rounded shapes coming off the branches, they concluded it was a fruit tree of some kind – such as the hypothesis in the ‘Willow!’ book even though they all acknowledged the disproportionate size.

When I made the discovery of the mistaken identity of the tree on so many design documentation, I wanted to do something to capture my findings and expose the lack of research that I have witnessed. I am not a design historian, nor a botanist, nor am I that experienced a Chinese painter, even I could tell that it was meant to be a pine tree. So it shouldn’t have been difficult to deduce. I could only conclude that people just didn’t really care enough to find out. Even those who were writing books or papers on the Willow design didn’t seem to make that extra effort to find out and just accepted that it was a strange fruit tree or badly depicted overly large and grotesque fruit tree. Hence I wanted to make a painting to express this example of our casual laziness towards other people’s culture. The second set of texts that I copied from the book aptly acknowledged the ‘couldn’t care less’ attitude towards Asia at the time.

When I first did the painting, I stopped before putting in the pine tree. This was because I felt the painting was turning out to be a bit ‘twee’. I didn’t like it. In hindsight, what did I expect when I was copying from a design that was a bit twee! So I left the piece at the time and went onto make two other paintings. I am very pleased that I returned to finish this painting because I had spent much time in researching the Willow Pattern, especially the mystery surrounding the pine tree; I really wanted to say something about it. Hence I am pleased that I returned to complete the pine tree as well as copy some texts that confirmed the casual approach taken towards other people’s culture.

LEARNING

I have learnt a lot about the history of the Willow Pattern. That also helped me to understand more about the British Empire and its history at the time. I am not really that offended by the poor appropriation of the design, it amused me more than anything. However, it highlighted how easy it is to poorly appropriate and that is usually out of laziness, ignorance or not being thorough in research. That is good learning for me and has helped to make me more mindful about my work – if I were to borrow ideas from other cultures, or my own culture, I need to pay more attention to get my facts right. It is often not difficult, just takes a little more time to ask or research. Otherwise, I would be just as bad as those that I’m criticising here.

NEXT STEPS

With completing this painting, I have now done three Cheongsam paintings. I have several ideas of other Cheongsam paintings so I will get on and make some more!

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RESEARCH BACKGROUND – WILLOW PATTERN

Below are some examples of mistaken identification published for the large pine tree in the Blue Willow pattern. The examples shown here assume the tree is a fruit tree.

Example 1: Wikipedia

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Willow_pattern

Wikipedia describes the tree as an orange tree even though orange trees do not grow that tall and if the round shapes were fruit then it would have been a leafless fruit tree.

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Example 2: Liverpool University – Victoria Gallery and Museum

https://vgm.liverpool.ac.uk/blog/2021/willow-pattern/

Liverpool University’s Victoria Gallery and Museum has a blog dedicated to the Blue Willow design. It details the key elements of the design but does not mention the largest tree depicted. It does, however, include an insert of an illustration stating that the large tree was an apple tree – did they really think that it could be a leafless apple tree that was nearly twice the size of a three storey building?

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Example 3: Quote from ‘Antiques Collectors’ magazine by ‘World expert on the Willow Pattern’

https://www.worldcollectorsnet.com/articles/willow-pattern/

This article includes a quote from a ‘World expert on the Willow Pattern’ talking about the oranges on the tree, whilst acknowledging that there are accounts of other fruits such as apples or pears being published.

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Example of a correct identification!

Finally, the example below correctly identifies the tree as a pine tree:

https://thebrooklynteacup.com/blogs/blog/blue-willow-china-pattern?srsltid=AfmBOoqLrjlC-ILPuRDrVdf2hHF-jvthiO5xCl6CQV2aTv2vazJg_Xtt