Inside Outside Sculpture Plinth
Jayanto Tan Another Day in Paradise | Until 3 April - 13 May
ceramic, perspex, card
Jayanto Tan is a Sydney-based visual artist who was born and raised in a small town in North Sumatra to a Sumatran-Christian mother and Guandong-Taoist father. Jayanto fled to Sydney in 1997 to escape poverty and political repression, after experiencing years of discrimination for his Chinese-Indonesian Peranakan heritage. His practice draws on his family history and diasporic background, blending Eastern and Western mythologies with the contemporary world and current events. Using found objects, ceramic sculptures, authentic food, and interactive performance and installation, his work often investigates how hybrid cultures can create new identities of possibility and hope.
In my practice, I often return to my family archive of memories and memorabilia for inspiration. For me, it is a way of remembering and reconnecting from fragmented past with my heritage. As a young child, I observed my mother cooking and preparing offering food for my father. I frequently seek out for a family ritual, an authentic recipe, an object, a sign and a trace that reminds me of their presence in my life. These works reference the memory associations linked to smell—the fragrance of family gatherings, cooking together in the kitchen while drinking tea and preparing feasts for the family gathering. As a child, my mother often asked me to harvest the fish from our backyard. Through my current art practice, I attempt to keep these rituals and memories alive.
In the context of this ongoing project, I also reinterpret the traditional Chinese symbol of Double Happiness, a motif commonly associated familial unity. My clay drawing of the Double Happiness symbol—which is composed of two Chinese characters for joy—is typically used as a symbol to celebrate marriage. It is often found on decorative wedding items and embossed in bright gold foil on auspicious red envelopes. I have deviated from the traditional symbol by drawing its double form and entwining lines to speak instead of the harmony and balance found in other forms of kinship, such as same-sex love. I aim to take viewers of my project through a journey, making associations with the lives and histories of other people and communities that embrace cultural and linguistic diversity, particularly minority communities that struggle to have a voice in mainstream society. For me, this work is about creating a home, both as a physical and cultural space within the world that engages with the diverse North Sydney communities, in a way open up and make a new connection.
Visit the Inside Outside Sculpture Plinth in Ted Mack Civic Park day or night.
Upcoming exhibitions
21 May to 15 July Virginia Keft
InTransit Community Art Space
Say Something Posters | Celebrating Pride | Community Connection Kindness
During Pride Month 2024, Council invited local queer artist Cameron Stead to develop two creative activities at Stanton Library. The activations celebrated the essence of Pride by fostering creativity and self-reflection, centred on the themes of Communities, Connections and Kindness. Participants were invited to use their voices to share their identities, express gratitude, and communicate ideas that matter to them.
Postcards of Gratitude asked participants to design and write a postcard to someone or something they appreciated. Drawing inspiration from the rich history of protest art within the LGBTQIA+ rights movement, Say Something Posters invited participants to create posters about important things they wanted to share with others.
This exhibition features some of the Say Something Posters created by the community
The InTransit Community Art Space is located at Level 1 Council Chambers, 200 Miller Street, North Sydney (access via ground floor Customer Customer Service) open 9am to 5pm, Monday to Friday except public holidays.
Speak to our Arts & Culture team
For further information, please contact Council's Arts and Culture team.
Telephone:02 9936 8100