Speaker: Jaffa Lam (Hong Kong-based Artist)

Moderation: Prof. Yongwoo Lee (Assistant Professor of Cultural Studies, CUHK)

Registration: https://cloud.itsc.cuhk.edu.hk/mycuform/view.php?id=2211576

 

Abstract

The artist talk will focus on Jaffa Lam’s explorations in materials and collective power through her recent exhibitions in Hong Kong and Antwerp. Lam’s works are based on notions of community, labour, identity, migration, and diaspora. The mixed media artworks, often made from recycled, reclaimed, or industrial materials, demonstrate her socially oriented approach in an evolving experiment to reveal the positive influence an artist can have in society. Lam’s community-based practice is created as a collective action, to demonstrate the shared energy with her collaborators. Her works explore the ecosystem and history of that collective, often partly lost through migration or gentrification.

Jaffa Lam will share her experiences and preparation process for her recent solo exhibition at Axel Vervoordt Gallery in Antwerp, Belgium, as well as her participation in group exhibitions at Tai Kwun, Hong Kong Arts Centre, and new works in Art Basel Hong Kong.

 

Bio:

Jaffa Lam is a Hong Kong-based artist specializing in large-scale, site-specific and mixed-media works, often using recycled materials, such as crate wood, old furniture, abandoned metal and umbrella fabric. Her works often explore issues relating to local culture, history, society, and current affairs, some of the topics include art in public, the loss of craftsmanship in the city, and the regeneration of the art-making cycle. She projects the views and thoughts of Hong Kong citizens through her non-narrative and dialogical installations.

Apart from solo exhibitions, Lam has been invited to participate in many international shows and artist residency programmes in Japan, Kenya, Taiwan, Bangladesh, China, the United States, France and Canada, etc. She received a Desiree and Hans Michael Jebsen Fellowship from the Asian Cultural Council in 2006, In 2010, “Perspective” Magazine listed her in their 40 UNDER 40, recognising the next generation of design talent. and was an awardee of the Secretary for Home Affairs’ Commendation Scheme in 2017.

In 2009, she started a community project in Hong Kong titled “Micro Economy”. At the invitation of the Hong Kong Arts Centre, Jaffa staged the exhibition: “Jaffa Lam Laam Collaborative: Weaver”, to highlight this project.

It has represented Hong Kong to show at Setouchi Triennale, Japan, 2013, Hong Kong Week, Taiwan, 2015, China 8, Germany, 2015, Utopias/ Heterotopia Wuzhen International Contemporary Art Exhibition, 2016, and Lumieres, Lyon, 2018, and she has been invited as a collaborator to show in Manifesta 12: The European Nomadic Biennial, 2018 in Palermo, Italy.

 

This talk is organised by the Department of Cultural and Religious Studies, CUHK.