Assembly | Yarning Paper with Pamela Leung

Join artist Pamela Leung in a weaving workshop as part of the Assembly exhibition.

Agglomerate (2022) is a mat woven with ‘yarn’ made from Chinese newspapers (printed in traditional characters) published globally; it is about reconnecting community at a time when many people are again leaving Hong Kong due to the harsh government response to recent social movements, especially the anti-sedition laws of 2020. This work reflects the complex entanglement of inheritance, persistence, culture, history, identity, and human connections.

This participatory public workshop demonstrates how Leung makes newspaper into yarn, ready to be woven or crocheted like in Agglomerate. While highlighting creativity and upcycling everyday materials, Leung will lead a discussion about her migration experience in Australia since leaving Hong Kong in the 1970s, and recent changes there, while inviting participants to share their own experiences and questions. 

The second is a closed workshop that invites members of the community who identify as Hong Kong diaspora; to join Leung in weaving newspaper yarn onto the Agglomerate artwork during the exhibition period, expanding the work in situ. In this way, Agglomerate (as the title suggests) becomes a more collaborative, cumulative record of community connections. Find out more about the workshop here.

About the artist

Pamela Leung is a Hong Kong-born artist who moved to Sydney in 1976. Working with installation, video, performance, sculpture and painting, Leung often draws on her personal experience of migration to create a space in which to share ideas of identity and displacement. Since completing her MFA at the National Art School, Sydney, in 2016, Leung has exhibited widely in Australia and internationally and was awarded the Emerging Artist Award at the 65th Blake Prize in 2018.

The CIW Gallery will also be open from 10 am to 1 pm on Sunday 3 March 2024.

Visit the exhibition webpage for further information and the latest public program.

This program is supported by the NSW Government through Create NSW.
Image: Pamela Leung, Agglomerate, 2022, crochet newspaper, detail view; image courtesy and copyright the artist; photo: Jennifer Brady.