Elaine Hye Ryung Kim is a Sydney-based Curator and Artist of Korean background. She currently studying Masters of Curating and Cultural Leadership at UNSW where she got a Bachelor of Fine Arts Honours degree. She curated "The Third Space" and "Ceramics and Emotions" in 2021 at Kudos Gallery in Sydney. Elaine is Finalist in Gosford Art Prize this year, Penrith Show 2017(Second Prize), Jenny Birt Award 2020(Highly Commended), Shelly Simpson Prize 2021(Finalist). She has exhibited her artwork in Hazlehurst Gallery, AD Space, UNSW Gallery, Gaffa Gallery, Kerrie Lowe Gallery in Sydney. She sees the world through two cultures of Korea and Australia, giving her perhaps a broader scope with how she perceives the particularly visual world. Her practice is led by a series of experiments that aim to destroy traditional art structures of time and space. Elaine explores the notion that all cultures are hybrid, and there is no longer a pure obedient culture that preserves and thrives on its own. She seeks to express the moment when the boundary between obedience and hybridity breaks down, through a process of translation of her cultures.
KOOKABBURRA AND TERRITORIAL OWNERSHIP
This year, I met kookaburra again at the exhibition of "FERNANDO DO CAMPO: TO COMPANION A COMPANION" at UNSW Gallery. Beyond the artist and creator Campo's intentions, I interpreted his artwork based on what I felt and came up with. When I first saw the banner of the kookaburra Relocation Project (WHOSLAUGHINGJACKASS) at the UNSW Gallery, the colours of the fabric banner and the various shapes imitating the letters seemed to symbolize the multi-ethnic Australian community. It did not take long for me to understand what that piece of kookaburra-coloured fabrics, and the flag-like artifacts meant, tangled up in a mess. This banner was abstracted from the phrase "Who's smiling jackass" and was used at the MOMA FOMA Festival in Tasmania. This phrase expresses the ambiguity of who is laughing at whom. Campo and the colourfully dressed protesters carried these banners to Tasmania's Launceston streets to interrogate colonialism and anthropocentrism, with a rude laugh like a kookaburra.
Why did they have to perform like this? Perhaps the appearance was funny, but also serious. Why was Campo interested in the forced displacement of kookaburra?
This year, I met kookaburra again at the exhibition of "FERNANDO DO CAMPO: TO COMPANION A COMPANION" at UNSW Gallery. Beyond the artist and creator Campo's intentions, I interpreted his artwork based on what I felt and came up with. When I first saw the banner of the kookaburra Relocation Project (WHOSLAUGHINGJACKASS) at the UNSW Gallery, the colours of the fabric banner and the various shapes imitating the letters seemed to symbolize the multi-ethnic Australian community. It did not take long for me to understand what that piece of kookaburra-coloured fabrics, and the flag-like artifacts meant, tangled up in a mess. This banner was abstracted from the phrase "Who's smiling jackass" and was used at the MOMA FOMA Festival in Tasmania. This phrase expresses the ambiguity of who is laughing at whom. Campo and the colourfully dressed protesters carried these banners to Tasmania's Launceston streets to interrogate colonialism and anthropocentrism, with a rude laugh like a kookaburra.
Why did they have to perform like this? Perhaps the appearance was funny, but also serious. Why was Campo interested in the forced displacement of kookaburra?
