INFO
| Name | 华夏人与长白云故乡 Being Chinese in Aotearoa: A photographic journey |
| Year | 2017 |
| Names of Artists | Helene Wong, Ant Sang, Kerry Ann Lee, Allan Xia, Renee Liang |
| Curator | Phoebe Li, John B. Turner |
| Organiser / Venue | Auckland Museum Tāmaki Pāenga Hira |
| Artform | Visual arts |
| City | Tāmaki Makaurau Auckland |
ABOUT
华夏人与长白云故乡 Being Chinese in Aotearoa: A Photographic Journey was an exhibition of close to 100 photographs of Chinese communities in Aotearoa, from the very beginning to contemporary times. Developed by curator Dr Phoebe Li, photo historian John B. Turner and Tāmaki Paenga Hira Auckland War Memorial Museum, the exhibition was a celebration of 175 years of Chinese life in Aotearoa. The photographs were sourced from private collections and public institutions throughout Aotearoa, including Archives New Zealand Te Rua Mahara o te Kāwanatanga, the National Library of New Zealand Te Puna Mātauranga o Aotearoa and Auckland Libraries Ngā Pātaka Kōrero o Tāmaki Makaurau, and were displayed chronologically.
Dr Phoebe Li explains how the photographs convey a long and important history:
Produced at various localities and over a very long span of time, the photographs can speak for themselves, telling how the Chinese, a small ethnic minority, have participated in building New Zealand society from very early on. Their history is also part of New Zealand history.
Figures of historical importance were included, such as a portrait of the first Chinese settler Appo Hocton, who arrived in 1842, but it is mostly ordinary people whose names are unknown who are featured in the photographs. The exhibition was developed to be accessible and easy to follow and included bilingual English and traditional Chinese labelling. With very little published in Chinese languages about Aotearoa Chinese communities, particular consideration was given to a general audience in China, where the history of Aotearoa’s Chinese community is not widely known.
Being Chinese in Aotearoa was first exhibited at the Overseas Chinese History Museum of China, Beijing (2016–2017), with the title Recollection of A Distant Shore: A Photographic Introduction to the History of the Chinese in New Zealand. First shown in Aotearoa at Tāmaki Paenga Hira Auckland Museum, timed to coincide with the 2017 Lantern Festival held in the surrounding Auckland Domain, the exhibition went on to be exhibited at Te Kōngahu Museum of Waitangi Exhibition Gallery Waitangi (2018–2019), and the New Zealand Portrait Gallery Te Pūkenga Whakaata in Pōneke (2019–2020).
Each iteration in Aotearoa included new commissions from Aotearoa Asian artists to sit alongside the exhibition of photographs. For Tāmaki Paenga Hira, graphic artist Ant Sang and writer Helene Wong were commissioned to create a series of comic artworks, The Quiet Achievers: From Gardens to Gold Medals, which follow an 11-year-old boy and his grandmother as they meet some of Auckland’s most inspiring Chinese artists, entrepreneurs, musicians, athletes, and more. Poet and writer Renee Liang 梁文蔚 and illustrator Allan Xia were commissioned to create a digital, interactive, choose-your-own-adventure story, Golden Threads, which focused on early settlers from Canton. At Waitangi and Pōneke, the exhibition included a new work by Wellington-based artist and educator Kerry Ann Lee, who was commissioned to create work in response to the exhibition.
A bilingual exhibition catalogue, New Zealand Chinese in historical images: recollections of a distant shore, was published in 2017 by the Social Sciences Academic Press in Beijing.
LINKS
'Being Chinese in Aotearoa: Behind-the-scenes with Renee Liang and Allan Xia', 2017
'Being Chinese in Aotearoa: Behind the scenes with Helene Wong and Ant Sang', 2017
Justine Clifford interviews curator Phoebe Li on 'Being Chinese in Aotearoa', MiNDFOOD, 2017
Phoebe Li interviewed by Kathryn Ryan — RNZ, 2017
"Exhibition remembers first Chinese New Zealander", Stuff, 2019
在新西兰国庆日讲述华人移民故事：华裔策展人 Phoebe Li专访 Phoebe Li interviewed, Chinese Herald NZ, 2019
Key works / presentations
2019–20 — New Zealand Portrait Gallery Te Pūkenga Whakaata, Pōneke, 21 November 2019 – 16 February 2020
2018–19 — Te Kōngahu Museum of Waitangi Exhibition Gallery, Waitangi, 15 December 2018 – 31 March 2019
2017–18 — Tāmaki Paenga Hira Auckland War Memorial Museum, Tāmaki Makaurau, 10 February 2017 – 21 January 2018
2016–17 — Overseas Chinese History Museum of China, Beijing, 21 October 2016 – March 2017
