Elmira Ng
Elmira Ng — 'White Rabbits', 2023
In this series, consumerist symbology is combined with bicultural aesthetics to celebrate and criticise racial dynamics within local and global capitalist supply chains. Where the red-and-gold of Lunar New Year was superseded by the gold-and-red of the Easter Lindt Bunny in 2023 – the Zodiac Year of the Rabbit – Lin-Lindt was conceived.
The name ‘Lin-Lindt’ mimics both the sound of bells and racial taunts in the Aussie primary school playground. Lindt, despite being a mass-produced consumerist symbol, sustains an aura of luxury stapled to its White Country-of-Origin label. Yet luxury in the age of mass industrialization is inherently violent and racist. Gucci, for example, is infamous for importing Chinese sweatshop craftspeople to Tuscany. By rephrasing “Made in China” to “Made by Chinese Hands”, the viewer is prompted to ponder the convoluted racial dynamics entrenched in status, supply chains, and ignorant attitudes towards Country-of Origin labels
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Elmira Ng (1999)
Designed in Hong Kong
Made in Naarm
My life is embedded into my art, glaze layer under glaze layer, kiln firing after kiln firing, paint layers on thin paper. I resist writing bios from divulgence fatigue. I usually start with "Elmira Ng is a second-generation Hong Kong-Australian". But after graduating from a BFA (Honours) at the VCA (2018 - 2023) and surviving my degree as a part-time dole bludger (:L), I have been re-released into the "Nee houw marr?", “Where do you come from?” world, where no one know what this statement means. It means I don't speak Mandarin. Moreso, it means I have grown up watching how White systems and people treat those who are unable to access their tools of assimilation, and thus, have assimilated myself. In my art practice, I utilise humour, craftsmanship, repetition, consumerist symbology, and childhood imagery to forge bi-cultural art objects. I am interested in interrogating the convoluted racism surrounding CALD labour in so called Australia.
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3 Feb - 9 March 2024
Fresh! celebrates the next wave of Victorian graduates in contemporary craft and design.
Presented annually since 1993, Fresh! showcases the energy, skill and innovation of some of the best graduating students from craft, design and fine art disciplines. Fresh! provides an important opportunity for graduates beginning their career as makers. The exhibition fosters the potential of graduating students and provides an insight into new directions of contemporary craft.
Fresh! 2024 will mark the 31st iteration of this annual program and exhibition.
Material: slip-casted porcelain large and small rabbits, found rabbits, fabric covered box,, Gucci-esque ribbon, Louis Vuitton-esque ribbon
Dimensions: 21 x 24 x 9.5cm
Please note, all works will be available for collection at the end of the exhibition on March 12. For shipping enquiries, please contact shop@craft.org.au who will be available to provide an Art Courier quote.