心花怒放 heart flower bloom
April 2019
State Library of Western Australia

心花怒放 (sam1 fa1 nou6 fong3) heart flower bloom is an autobiographical re-making of joss papers (金紙 gam1 ji2) which are sheets of thin paper or papercrafts made to burn in offerings for worship of ancestors, deceased relatives, or deities.

Joss paper may be decorated with metallic foiled details, stamps, pieces of contrasting papers, and with detailed graphic designs and motifs of auspicious symbols, phrases, animals, fruits, and flowers.

心花怒放 is a Cantonese expression translating as ‘to be happy at heart like flowers in full bloom’. The works are a personal interpretation and commemoration of the objects and experiences of my Chinese/Cantonese/Vietnamese/Australian diaspora, through my relationship with my parents, struggles with language, and in recently re-location overseas. In making this artwork, I thought about futures, ancestors, the passing down of my culture, and of my family's knowledge through many languages. Cantonese is an important part of my cultural identity but only when I am with family. The small elements of text are Cantonese ideophones. The work also references the heavily ornate design of Joss paper, the patterns on patterns, the colours and objects of auspicious symbols and items. I hope to fill my joss paper with my hopes and dreams for my own future with a colourful, bright, inviting, and soft way of being.

All the materials themselves are sourced from a recent family trip to Vinh Long, my parents’ hometown.

heart flower bloom was presented as part of Seasons, Histories, and Hopes: Imagined Migrant Futures: a group exhibition featuring artworks by Steven James Finch (Gok1 Lim1) and Susan Finch (Ah1 Kim1), The Doneo Sibs, Gabby Loo and Nang Voe Hom, Patrick Gunasekera, Nadia Macaulay and Giok Lian, Aisyah Aaqil Sumito, Vidya Rajan and Meera Thiagarajan, Patrick Bryce, Alina Tang, Colin Smith, and Nazerul Khairy Ben-Dzulkefli.

The group exhibition is the creative outcome of Imagined Migrant Futures, a community art and research project initiated by Finch and Loo for their fellowship, which focused on decoloniality and Asian migrant autobiographic expression in Western Australia.

Featuring photography, sound, textiles, sculpture, installation, and performance art, Seasons, Histories and Hopes explores personal identity through a multiplicity of cultural knowledges.

Images by Gabby Loo

May 2019

Amsteldijk 40d, Amsterdam

Tender Togetherness is a collection of  memories and blooming flowers which each representing a significant moment, gesture, and beginning from a previous relationship and/or friendship.  The work is made with hand-painted elements which are printed onto adhesive vinyl, layered directly on the wall surface.

The work was created as part of a group exhibition Beginning To Tell You with 28 female illustrators based in Amsterdam and surrounds.

Images by Birgit Loit

November 2018

Vanha Paukku Cultural Centre, Lapua, Finland

Kukka Buffetti (Flower Buffet) is a portable, wearable flower stand that is constructed mainly from cardboard. It offers hand-picked bouquets that are created instantly and collaboratively. The work is made and seen in reference to the location (a buffet hall in the public library) The flower stand offers an accessible and friendly surprise encounter.  

Supported by Vanha Paukku Cultural Centre

Images by Patrick Ulmer

August 2018

De Bouwput Gallery, Amsterdam, The Netherlands

Alles groeit en bloeit weer prachtig (Everything grows and flourishes again) is a project exploring parallels between the migrancy of both humans and flowers by surveying the local history, human relationships, and growth patterns of flora in the surrounding West Amsterdam area.

Presented as part of Summer Air - an exhibition of Artists in Residence at AGA Lab in July 2018.

Supported by Department of Local Government, Sport and Cultural Industries WA.

Photographs by Marnix Postma and Bodie Hartley

May 2018

Guildford Road, Maylands

A walking trail of the history of the universe from the big bang to the opening of the Maylands aerodrome, with the distance reflecting the timeline. Concept by Rory Deegan, commissioned by City of Bayswater and Perth Airport.

Photographs by Nicolee Fox

April 2018

Moore & Moore Gallery, Fremantle

if sunshine had a smell this would be it - periwinkles, pansies, irises, vervains, indian paintbrushes, apples, daisies, and pimentos

A group exhibition featuring a range of ceramics, illustration, photography, painting and printmaking. Artists include Alina Tang, Natasha Lea, Danica Wichtermann, Elaine Bradley, Ceramic Artist, Jacek Gonsalves, Jackie Masters, Natalie Acton, Janine Lee, Marinella Piccirillo and Samantha Hughes. 

Photographs by Nicolee Fox

January 2018

Blank Slate Gallery,
Paper Mountain 

Bead Friends Forever is a collaborative exhibition between best friends Alina Tang and Johanna Acs. After 23 years of friendship we are finally making art together!

The installation is a bright, eye-catching and vibrant wall work of small magical objects made of iron-together beads. Smiling flowers, small babies, fruits, booby houses, pizzas, happy clouds and sad clouds greet you on this colourful and nostalgic tour of a favourite childhood activity. Made with the help of our closest buds, these happy little objects celebrate colour, creativity, and most importantly, friendship.

Bead Friends Forever is presented as part of Peaks 2018, a curated program of emerging visual art and performance organised by Paper Mountain for FRINGE WORLD 2018. Peaks 2018 is proudly sponsored by the City of Perth.

Images by Tasha Faye

October 2017

A  vibrant floor decal trail of native flora and bees starting at the Maylands train station and surrounding Railway Parade and Whatley Crescent. Commissioned by City of Bayswater in collaboration with Honey I'm Home Produce. 

Photographs by Nicolee Fox

March 2017

Flora and Fauna Cafe

A tiny & mighty collaboration between Giant Pansy and Flora & Fauna

leave with a pocketful of joy, we promise you will be smiling sweetly all day.

Images by Rachael Barrett

October 2014 

Fremantle Arts Centre

The Floriographer is an intimate one-on-one performance work presented by Proximity Festival. The language of flowers can be a powerful form of communication if you know their meaning. The Floriographer offers you a chance to reconsider who you would gift flowers to.

Images by Steven Cheah

October 2015

Various Locations - Perth CBD

Tussie Mussies is a performative work that is a celebration of angiosperms, gifts, and meaning-making commissioned by City of Perth's TransART Experimental program.

The mobile flower cart offers buckets of different flowers with meanings, each referring to positive, descriptive traits of human beings.

Flowers have many layered meanings and identities. They are often thought of as female, when in fact many flowers (if human) would be (in a sense) hemaphroditic. The identities of flowers and plant life are in many ways alien to human society, yet we love their beauty all the same. Tussie Mussies will explore this attraction between humans and flowers through a layered and liminal Floriography. 

Images by Tanya Voltchanskaya

October 2016

Paper Mountain Gallery

Anthologia is an exploration of Western cultural engagement with arranged flowers – how flowers were poached from colonised lands, how their beauty was cultivated, how they shaped domestic spaces, and how they were gendered feminine. SJ Finch developed a language of flower meanings, then invited female poets to write floriographic poems using that language. Alina created flower arrangements that are representative of the poems, and display them next to their hand-printed English translations. Anthologia seeks to construct a tactile and feminist language that responds to colonialist histories of flower cultivation with grace, care and an excessive love of beauty.

Images by Paper Mountain

September 2016

Crack Theatre Festival, Newcastle 

Five Petals is a floral museum of past loves, guided through five interactions, each a delicate narrative of flower meanings. The intimate, 1-on-1 work explores our cultural relationship to flowers, to acts of love, and to an awareness of ephemeral beauty.

A collaboration with SJ Finch, presented at Crack Theatre Festival with support from Department of Culture and the Arts, and the Setting The Stages Initiative through the Australian Council for the Arts. 

Images by Erin Kelly

party in my tummy is a collection of small square gouache paintings of fruits, vegetables, and other ingredients from previous collaborations of Chicho Gelato's exclusive flavours. the title is a direct reference to the Yo Gabba Gabba song, where friendly green monster Brobee eats his lunch (cheese, chicken, and juice) and also tries new vegetables (green beans and carrots) which all end up having a great juicy party in his tummy. Along with his friends Muno, Foofa, Toodee, Plex, and narrator/host DJ Lance Rock, Brobee is encouraged to try new foods while being supported by his friends.

I have also enjoyed trying the various flavours of Chicho with my friends over the years, and had many great parties in my tummy.

party in my tummy was created for Ciao! a group exhibition at Chicho Gelato, Northbridge curated by Rebecca Jensen.

Opening images by Danica Zuks