girl talk <3

April - May 2025 | 6 x hand cut papercuttings stretched over wooden canvas frames, 135gsm coloured paper | Dimensions (each): (h) 50cm X (w) 40cm | Garden of Peach, Chorlton and Saan1, Northern Quarter.

As my connection to the East Asian/ South-East Asian (esea) community in Greater Manchester grows, there is evidently a shared experience of sexism and fetishism through receiving  inappropriate comments from ignorant perspectives (typically male and western). 
girl talk <3 encourages people from the esea community who have received comments, like the six on display, to open a dialogue and reclaim power, something which has been imbalanced for many years. For those outside of the esea community girl talk <3  invites you to reflect on comments such as these and the effects it may have on people who receive them. 
I have combined the traditional artform of papercutting and ink painting to search for a balance between the feeling of aggressive comments and motion of cutting paper with delicate and communicative femininity.
Special thanks to Alecia, Apapat, Deborah, Emma, Hathaikan and her sister, Jade and Zhen for taking part. 

Echoes: China & Hong Kong. Voicing the collection.

January - May 2025 | Two Site Specific Papercutting Installations at The Portico Library.

“I think you’re wrong… England isn’t racist, I never hear any racism” - a white man from Essex called Andrew, 2020. | Hand-cut papercutting, 5m x 1.5cm and 3m x 1.5m, 200gsm Paper, wood, rope.

A “sudden influx of swarms of hideous chattering Chinese coolies” Major Henry Knollys, 1885. | 100 Individually hand-cut papercuttings, 135gsm coloured paper.

For this exhibition, I have chosen to explore the pairing between the negative impacts language can have within society and the delicate nature of the ancient art of papercutting. Welcome aboard and join the Portico Library on a voyage of reclaiming narratives, voicing the collections and highlighting the impact of ignorance and preconceptions have on society from the 19th century to the present day. 
Artist statements about both works below.

Photos by Lewis Chetcuti.

Ste Wing's Art Project

November 2023 | Hand Painted mural, | Dimensions: 8ft (h) X 12ft (w) | Material: Masonry Paint on wooden board.

Following Ste Wing's brief of community, for his Manchester Chinatown Art Project, I turned to my previous work, Woyou: Wandering Whilst Lying Down to depict a community of East/South East Asian women who, to a degree, share the lived experience of injustices within gender binaries. 
This work will be up for the foreseeable future and part of a docu series, filmed by Hyde Productions, to be released  later this year.

Photos from Lewis Chetcuti 

Strange Faces in the Mirror Exhibition

Hong Kong Cultural Community at Saan1, Manchester, March 2023.

Cold Memories of Hong Kong | 2023 | Acrylic and Ink on Canvas | 80 X 30cm and Reflection of Duality | 2023 |Blue Pearlescent oil-based Ink on Rice Paper | 80 x 30cm. 

My impressions of Hong Kong are drawn from a variation of old photos and videos of my parent’s visit in 1994 alongside memories of myself and my family in 2004 and 2007. Though we had a lot planned and were in the heart of such a vibrant city, there was an underlying sense of sorrow for both my trips. After being in Thailand, 2004, after the Boxing Day Tsunami hit the coast, we went to Hong Kong in attempt to finish the holiday on a better note and secondly, having white parents and not dressing or behaving like the locals meant we stuck out.  From these cold thoughts and feelings, I reference images and motifs from the family photos, creating a hazy and almost sad tone to such a busy and beautiful city.  Responding to the brief, provided by Manchester-based Hong Kong Community Culture, of producing a 'self portrait' of ones culture, having been born in China and adopted into a white family, disparity between being 'British' and 'Chinese' has been an ongoing subject I wished to explore.
By only using my two stone seals, each showing my first, Jasmine, and middle name, Su Juanyan in both English letters and Chinese characters, I wanted to visually depict the melancholy and fragile state of cultural duality. 

MilkTea Films

February 2023 | Two Bespoke Paintings | Dimensions (each): 180cm  (h) X 120cm (w) | Material: Acrylic and Paint Pen.

MilkTea's Special Screening of Broker, The Picturehouse Central, Piccadilly Circus, London.
MilkTeaFilms wanted a bespoke artwork that celebrated the film, Broker, and its prominent themes of family and the chosen family we make for ourselves on display at their special screening at PictureHouse Central. These 180 X 120cm acrylic and paint pens paintings represent my life Before and After family. Before (left) depicts buildings and surroundings from Su Zhou and Su Zhou's Social Welfare Home, where I stayed for the first seven months of my life. Though the painting uses blue tones which reflect somber feelings when thinking about my family-less young self, hope of a new life is symbolised by the growing blossom tree in the corner. After  (right) depicts the house where I grew alongside my younger sister and our parents in Colchester in the UK. Oranges and reds are used to capture a warming and welcoming feeling when I come back to this house, even after 4 years of living in Manchester.
 

 "Take your Chinese and shove it up your ass, you chinky pig" 

2021 | 7 Ivory stoneware with tin shiny glaze and cobalt oxide on 7 MDF plinths | Varying sizes.

 Being born in China, and growing up in the UK, cultural diaspora has allowed me to perceive the ongoing xenophobic and racist arrogances towards the Asian community through both the Eastern and Western eye. These feelings of being othered, alienated and fetishised have left me to feel angry and ambitious to speak out. Referring to traditional Chinese craft allowed me to explore the dichotomy between the beauty of the forgotten Ming Dynasty ‘Moon- flask’ vase, an artifact of an antiquarian context, and the internal need to confront those who inflict physical and emotional pain onto myself and the Asian community. The vase’s figurative form acts as a reminder that the issues my work challenges are nothing but human ignorance. My work aims to alter the perception one has on traditional Chinese craft and the messages it can potentially hold.