We grew up on the same metaphysical street

Installation | Painted banner, painted circles, ceramic tiles, and sketchbook drawing (drawing by Colin Smith)

Assembled ready-made and found objects | Chinese cabbage sculptures, Chinese knot charms, Chinese chilli charm, angel wings, metal chain, metal heart frame, plant pots, glow pot, glass mirror, glass bowl, glass bottle, stone beads, Sriracha bottles, ordinary garden weeds and aluminium fringed mat.

We grew up on the same metaphysical street is a devotional installation artwork dedicated to the transformative nature of queer friendships and my second-generation Burmese-Chinese migrant identity. The image design on the painted banner originated from a sketch I drew in early 2022 whilst I was on holiday with fellow exhibiting artist and best friend Colin Smith. The text “All I wanna do is sit on the curb with you” is an expression of love and adoration for my queer, trans and neurodiverse friends – it is an expression that means no matter how hard life may feel we can still appreciate the beauty of each other’s existence, even in the most mundane of settings.

This artwork is also an ode to my family and Asian migrant QT friends that helped me understand how limitless our identities can be, how fiercely resilient we are in surviving and processing intergenerational trauma, and how I am not alone in my cultural diaspora yearnings. In these sacred friendships, we bond over each other’s imaginings of cultural diaspora dreams and joys. Together, we learn to nurture a common ground for intercultural solidarity and decolonial healing. Together, we envision just futures our past selves deserved growing up Asian in ‘so called’ Australia, amongst the historical echoes of the 1901-1970’s White Australia policy, anti-Asian racism and model minority expectations.

The shrine-like assemblage of objects symbolises my family’s Burmese and Chinese migrant histories that I draw strength from. The inclusion of Sriracha bottles is a humourous nod to Asian diaspora meaning making by emblematising imported common Asian grocery store goods. The stone beads that sit within the glowing pot are from souvenir bracelets I’ve received from family members who have travelled to and from Boorloo/Perth and Myanmar.

This artwork was comissioned for the group exhibition
(sub)urban: queering the suburbs
Curated by Billie Bushby
DADAA Fremantle gallery
22 April – 17 June 2023

Photography, all above | Louise Coghill