Sailing Lanterns

2023
Location: Toi Poneke
Artists: Chyna Lily, Simon L Wong, Grace Ko, Allister Tran, Matthew Yee & Jacqueline Trinh
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Curated to provide more insight into the lives of Asian individuals in Aotearoa, ‘Sailing Lanterns’ guides the viewer with illuminating works throughout a domestic yet fragile scene. Hand-crafted objects including copper sculptures, printed flowing fabric and time-based work all express a desire to reconnect with ancestral traditions. Their motive derives from the common yet isolated experience of navigating cultural identity, by creating this tight-knit expression of self they hope to provide a sense of comradery.



Territory Unknown Book Launch

2022
Location: Meanwhile Gallery
Artists: Chyna-Lily & Simon L Wong

The book ‘Territory Unknown’ serves as a visual diary that confronts, embraces cultural identity. Simon L Wong and Chyna Lily express their isolated yet common experiences of growing up in Aotearoa as Chinese ‘New Zealanders’. The photography portrays an abstracted process of selfhood through the trajectory of the images, portraying three stages representing, longing, cleansing and unity. The use of the environment, figures and personal taonga, have been well-considered details in bringing this work to life with connectivity and cohesion. The launch hosted contributors, creatives & friends, the space displayed large-scale portraits, the book and prints available to purchase.

 
Functionless Homewares

2021
Location: Three Eyes Gallery
Artists: Chyna-Lily & Lily Power

Collaborating artists Lily Power and Chyna-Lily have used this opportunity to revisit their ongoing conceptual interests, including gender, while exploring new skills and materials some of which they didn’t obtain during their undergrad study because they focused on what they thought were important methods and processes at that time which reflected typically feminine processes.

Although heavily influenced by past feminist works, the definition of Feminism has changed a lot since the first wave. As contemporary artists, it is important to acknowledge gender fluidity rather than focus on rights for ‘women’ alone. “When we say gender is performed, we usually mean that we’ve taken on a role or we’re acting in some way and that our acting or our role playing is crucial to the gender that we are and the gender that we present to the world (Butler).” To us, this means that really there is no such thing as ‘female’ and ‘male’ art. There is just art, but we have found ourselves falling into the art-making genre that is socially seen as more feminine or suited more to females because of what’s happened in history so far.



Out of Touch

2020
Location: Three Eyes Gallery
Artists: Chyna-Lily, Simone Pickup, Scarlet Carmine
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‘Out of Touch’ is an exhibition of manipulated textiles and paintings, by a cross-disciplinary collective of Massey University students, featuring Fine Artist, Chyna-Lily Rawlinson, Fashion Designers, Simone Pickup, Scarlett Carmine and Graphic Designers, Hugo Rikard-Bell, Tara Young, Michaella Hui, and Matthew Yee.

In recent times we have found ourselves in a natural experiment where we have been lead to adopt a more digital-based lifestyle. One that has coerced us into spending more time in digital space to fulfil daily needs. In doing so, we challenge the necessity of physical presence. With the convenience of these technologies proving so useful, and showing no sign of losing relevance. — Are we bound to this new normal? Might we be able to reconcile the utility of these technologies with the merits of analogue solutions? And what happens when digital minds raised alongside these technologies meet an analogue tradition. The Blocks collection is an extension of the framed textiles. These works are hands-on.

Simone and Scarlett are Fashion Designers, and we, as a collective, were intrigued by their ability to manipulate textiles, drawing the similarity between the looseness of their medium, fabric, and the gestural nature of Chyna-Lily’s medium, painting. In this collection of framed textiles , the Artists employ digital ways of seeing to establish a structured system to dictate the form of an airy sheet of fabric. Contrasting the rigid, entrancing beauty of mechanical repetition and modularity, with the soft, tactile and material qualities of textured fabric occupying physical space.