And Then, Pai Ti Kong (A praying The Heaven God) (2022)
Ceramic
I created thousands of ceramic fortune cookies during the COVID restrictions, inspired by the festival of ‘Pai Ti Kong’ from my mother’s Hokkien ancestry. ‘Pai Ti Kong’ literally means “praying the Heaven God”, which traditionally invokes protection for the Hokkien people. My ceramic fortune cookies are a homage to the victims of the Riot of May 1998 throughout Indonesia. The riot was triggered by food shortages and mass unemployment resulting in violence, demonstrations and civil unrest of a racial nature against ethnic Chinese-Indonesians. Thousands of people were massacred, and many women were raped. This installation symbolises life and hope, albeit the tragedy remains unresolved politically.
About the Artist
Jayanto Tan was born in a small village in North Sumatra and now lives on Gadigal Wangal Country in Sydney’s Inner West. As an immigrant artist, his practice blends Eastern and Western mythologies with the reality of current events. Jayanto’s work has been shown at 4A Centre for Contemporary Asian Art, Verge Gallery, Firstdraft, Australia-China Institute for Arts, 66th Blake Prize and Churchie Art Prize. He won the 11th Small Sculpture Greenway Art Prize. Jayanto holds a Bachelor of Fine Arts and Masters of Fine Arts from National Art School. He has been awarded grants from City of Sydney, Inner West Council, Diversity Arts Australia and NAVA.
Join Jayanto at his work for a performative ceremony on HIDDEN Family Picnic Day, Sunday 9 October, 2pm
Transcription
Hi, my name is Jayanto Tan. I'm a visual artist from northwest Sydney.
My practice mainly in ceramics that, combined with the embroidery on fan fabrics and performance. The artwork I propose for HIDDEN Rookwood Sculptures work is thousands of colourful lots of life sized ceramics fortune cookies that symbolize us a circle family gathering in Utopia. As an immigrant artists living in Sydney who flew property and political repression in search of a better life.
My practice blends Eastern and Western mythologies with the reality of current events. I draw on the identity politics of my diaspora to express personal experiences of otherness through mixed media installation. My practice on autobiographical experiences of laws, displacement, hope and offers a sentiment of mixed spirituality and sharing to demonstrate a diverse culture, bringing the timeless wisdom of meditation to our contemporary Australia. The unique of the environment had drawn me to have an exhibition in the beautiful Rookwood cemetery. Having travelled to Australian alone in pursuit of love and soberty.
My artistic practice has always drawn on the themes relate to my lost families and cultural divers the mysterious and never discussed the death of my father, mother and sisters forced me to move from place to place without explanation. Then my family members become to take on the character of ghosts. Art Is my visual language, that my connection to the lost ancestral and my bridge to connect with the world. I create this emotional installation work with hope. that I can please my mother, sisters and friends that I never have the opportunity to bring them together when they were still around, and also, I hope, to find my own unique community. My work has a lot to do with hope. Is Work make the eyes open. It is about seeing, seeing what is there.
I hope the audiences will feel they are related to the installation work. My sensitive work is also about the dualism between dark and light, fortune and unfortune, mortal and immortal, pain and glory, here and their love, and that this installation work was inspired by by my fear of losing everything. This is about controlling my own fear or people that I love that have no longer accessed and I'm afraid to fix it. I wanted them to be around. Then this work becomes alive through their spiritual connection. I hope the audiences will feel touched by looking at the still life colourful fortune cookies installation. Yeah,