Auckland Art Gallery celebrates Guo Pei exhibition with Chinese poetry
- Danielle Lowenna
- May 9, 2024
- 2 min read
Updated: Jun 3, 2024
Auckland Art Gallery hosted 'On Being Chinese - The Poetry' to celebrate the final day of Guo Pei's exhibition on Sunday.
The event featured Poet Laureate Chris Tse, alongside poets Zephyr Zhang and Nathan Joe discussing their responses to the Chinese designer’s 'Fashion, Art, Fantasy' exhibition.
Zhang said that the panellists came together and realised that they had another element of their identity in common.
"We also realised that we were all queer and... I think that brought an extra element. All the interesting stories come... at the intersection of all these things."
Tse said he quickly discarded viewing the exhibition through just the lens of Chinese identity.
"What the dresses made me think about was more about gender and being a queer man... those memories of wanting to wear girls' clothes and not really caring... because when you're a kid, it's just clothes and playing dress up."
"I love that, as poets, we do have shared interests and experiences but that something like this can still fire off all these different ideas.”
The poets also shared readings from their own collections, including 'My ancestors crossed oceans to be here and all I have to show for it is this bubble tea', performed by Nathan Joe.
Programme Producer for Cultural Communities and Youth, Ellie Lim, said that it's vitally important to bring artists and performers into the gallery spaces.
"People can self-navigate through an exhibition like Guo Pei with success and with comfort but... the voice of one incredible Chinese designer can’t be the voice for all Chinese in Aotearoa."
Tse said that he hoped the event continued the conversation around the exhibition.
"As the Poet Laureate it's really lovely to be able to sneak poetry into spaces where people don’t expect it... you create this dialogue between the art and the people that see it."
Lim said that she hoped the poets and audience were strengthened by the event.
"From the gallery’s perspective we can do things here which demystify the ivory tower, [making art] a little bit more accessible to... communities who are interested in different types of creativity."
*Initial label caption updated to recognise the copyright of the artwork. Earlier submission in Week 9 read as follows: Guo Pei's 'Da Jin (Magnificent Gold)' on display in the Mackelvie gallery. Separate to the full 'Guo Pei: Fashion, Art, Fantasy' exhibition on Level One of Auckland Art Gallery. Photo: Danielle Hutchinson.
With thanks to Auckland Art Gallery for their permission to photograph the exhibition.
Contacts
Ellie Lim
Programme Producer, Cultural Communities and Youth
Chris Tse
New Zealand Poet Laureate
Zephyr Zhang
Performance Poet
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