TAASA Review Issues

We launch the first TAASA Review issue for 2024 with a range of general articles which will hopefully provide something of interest to everyone. Many of these articles demonstrate – and celebrate – the range of Asian art activities that we have been able to enjoy in recent times across Australia.

Maria Wronska-Friend’s article on Japan’s little known engagement with Indonesian textiles over several centuries is a follow-up to a talk she gave to the TAASA NSW Textile Study Group which attracted one of the TSG’s largest audience in recent times. Her discussion about the creative collaboration that has been more evident since WW2 between Indonesian and Japanese textile producers is, I think, of particular interest.

Another outcome of a recent talk is Jennifer Harris’ article about a set of eight hand scrolls on show in the Misty Mountain, Shining Moon exhibition at the Art Gallery of South Australia. The subject of one of the talks in a symposium held in conjunction with the exhibition, Jennifer discusses the scrolls created in 1922 seeking to pay homage to Hiroshige’s 53 iconic stations (1833) while viewing the journey along the Tōkaidō through the lens of 20th century modernity. In doing so, the scrolls expose stylistic differences and provide a record of the new landscape being shaped by a rapidly changing nation.

The Misty Mountains exhibition itself is covered by Russell Kelty. His article does not aim to cover the whole exhibition but rather focuses on particular art works that relate to the continuing significance of the deities known as kami to the landscape and to the ritual context of ‘the way of the Gods’, known as ‘Shinto’. The exhibition can still be visited until 1 April.

Recent exhibitions by Chinese artist Geng Xue – known in particular for her re-imagining of Chinese porcelain traditions – at Vermillion Art, Sydney and Western Sydney University’s Institute for Australian and Chinese Arts and Culture (IAC) are the jumping off point for Luise Guest. Her article provides us with an insightful overview of Geng Xue’s more recent work and we benefit from Luise’s personal engagement with the artist and her work.

Several more exhibitions are covered in this issue. Jackie Menzies offers us her take on the Powerhouse, Sydney’s recently closed 1001 Remarkable Objects, sadly marking the more general closure of the Powerhouse for three years due to planned renovation. Her musings, as she puts it, lead her to connect the 150 or so Asian related items in the exhibition to the wider Asian art holdings of the Powerhouse, placing these exhibited items in sharp focus in relation to their cultural context and significance.

In contrast to 1001, a highly focused exhibition of contemporary Cambodian art at Sydney’s 16albermarle Project Space late last year is discussed by one of its curators, Lauren Barlow. This was an ambitious and highly commendable initiative that aimed, in Lauren’s words, to present the ‘now’ of contemporary art in Cambodia and to promote visibility and support of contemporary art at the local level in Cambodia. The exhibition was accompanied by a symposium in the opening week and a comprehensive catalogue.

Another ambitious initiative was the exhibition Sutr Santati: Then. Now. Next. which showed in Melbourne Museum from May – September 2023 after opening at the National Museum of India in New Delhi. As author Ben Divall tells us, it was, remarkably, the first substantial show of Indian textiles commissioned and curated from India that has been shown outside Asia. The Melbourne iteration exhibited 75 items showcasing prominent artisans, craftspeople and contemporary designers.

More enduring art legacies can be provided by permanent collections and archives that offer rich study material for scholars and generalists alike. Claire Roberts tells us about a collection of over 400 items of objects and ephemera related to China’s Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution (1966-1976) amassed by historian of Chinese dress Valery Garrett and donated to the University of Melbourne. It has recently become accessible to researchers. Claire emphasises the importance of a collection such as this in providing a rich resource for object-centred learning and research.

A digital archive of Japanese-Australian potter Hiroe Swen’s work is discussed by Chiaki Ajioka. She explains the genesis of this project and the enthusiasm of Swen’s admirers to make sure that her life and works are recorded for the benefit of the ceramics community.

Our final offering comes from Margaret White who reports on her visit to The Burrell Collection in Glasgow, a recently renovated Museum that houses an eclectic collection including a sizable component of Asian artefacts. Margaret’s focus is not surprisingly on its textile and ceramic holdings.

A happy and healthy lunar new year for all our TAASA members!