LUKA YUANYUAN YANG: TIME CAPSULE
12th September, 2024 – 12th October, 2024
Flowers Gallery
49 Tung Street
Sheung Wan
Flowers Gallery is pleased to present Luka Yuanyuan Yang‘s first solo exhibition, Time Capsule, in Hong Kong, featuring five short films created between 2019 – 2022. These short films derive from her multifaceted research-based project Dance in Herland, encompassing five short films, photographic documentation, a collection of archives, a publication and feature-length documentary Chinatown Cha-Cha slated for release in Chinese cinemas in late- 2024.
Yang’s interest in the Chinese diaspora stems from her time in the UK observing visitors frequenting Chinese restaurants serving as time capsules that reflect the cultural limbo of immigrants – a state frequently overlooked both in China and their adopted countries. Fascinated by immigrants and their transnational experiences, Yang has extensively researched their sounds and visual cultures in the 20th century, with a particular focus on Chinese women and LGBTQ+ figures. Yang’s visual language and documentarian approach to storytelling projects the different spatial, emotional and historical dimensions of the Chinese diaspora in film, discussing the complexity of identities and challenges posed to immigrants.
While Tales of Chinatown (2019) traces back the history of Cantonese opera among overseas Chinese community, Cantonese Tunes on Mott Street (2022) conveys an older generation’s appreciation of Cantonese opera and seeks a sense of belonging through this art form. For Chinese immigrants separated from familiar land and culture, these theatres link them to a faraway home and help foster the strong bonds within a community. Yang brings to life the memories and trauma of those who directly experienced the Chinese Exclusion Act (1882-1943) as well as the subsequent generations in the 20th century.
By crafting stories where fact and fiction coexist, Yang challenges conventional historical interpretations and amplifies the voices of the forgotten, silenced, or misinterpreted. Years of research and focus on Chinese migration has sharpened Yang’s ability to uncover their narratives and voices.
What began as a ‘time capsule’ concept has evolved into a documentation where Yang preserves the fragmented memories of these communities in our time. As Yang explains; I weave narratives based on real oral histories, aiming to transcend national and temporal boundaries to uncover connections among people with transnational experiences in our era.
LUKA YUANYUAN YANG: TIME CAPSULE opens on the 12th of September, 2024 until the 12th of October, 2024 at Flowers Gallery
©2024 Flowers Gallery
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