Exhibition Opening: Connecting and Connections

The Institute for Australian and Chinese Arts and Culture (IAC) at Western Sydney University is excited to open its program scope to all Asian arts and cultures, to reflect and showcase a multilingual and multicultural contemporary Australia and promote exchanges and much needed interconnections among diverse cultures. Connecting and Connections, the first art exhibition of 2025, brings together five distinguished artists of diverse backgrounds who through their highly personalised and distinctive artistic creations, individually and collectively, explore the complexities—often layered and contradictory—of cultural heritage, identity, traditions, mythologies, art history and alternative perspectives. Their inspiring artworks invite viewers to engage with the myriad experiences that shape our world, expanding the mind's eye.  

Mai Nguyễn-Long, an artist, academic and storyteller, was born in Tasmania to a Vietnamese father and an Australian mother, and spent her formative years in Papua New Guinea and the Philippines. Her reconnection with the rich cultural heritage of Vietnam through an artist residency in the ceramic village of Bat Trang led her to clay and the residence experience has most profoundly influenced her art practice. Her work explores themes of belonging, identity, displacement, voicelessness, cultural erasure and the complexities of diasporic experience. The works featured in the exhibition span a variety of mediums, including drawing, painting, video and sculpture, revealing the intricate and evolving nature of her captivating body of work.

Louise Zhang is a Chinese-Australian multidisciplinary artist, a “third-culture kid”. growing up in Australia, she was fascinated with and intrigued by Chinese mythology and botany, and horror cinema. By drawing inspiration from Chinese folklore and traditional beliefs, while blending elements of Western pop culture and surrealism, she has created a unique and unmissable visual language. Her art practice explores a sense of otherness in identity, cultural hybridity and the interplay between beauty and horror, challenging traditional aesthetic boundaries and inviting viewers to question their perceptions of beauty and grotesqueness, identity and cultural belonging. Her work reflects on the spiritual dimensions of existence.

Lucy Pulvers is a Sydney-based artist renowned for her emotive figure paintings and portraits, imbued with surrealistic features, in oil and watercolour. Born and raised in Japan, she moved to Sydney in 2001. Her bilingual and bicultural background in Japanese and English has played a significant role in shaping her artistic practice. Japanese aesthetic culture, along with traditional Japanese figure painting and portraiture, has had a strong influence on her style. She also draws inspiration from Kabuki and Noh theatre, where climaxes are often conveyed through dramatic, exaggerated frozen poses. Her work blends emotional intensity with abstraction, evoking a sense of mystery and otherworldliness.

Cheolyu Kim was born in South Korea and received his fine art education in sculpture both in Seoul and New York. His work has been widely exhibited in Korea, Australia, Indonesia, New Zealand and the United States. Growing up in a mountainous village, Kim developed a deep fascination with the concept of flight which he symbolises as a yearning to transcend physical limitations in his art. His exquisite pen drawings, executed on either paper or wood, emerge from the interplay between memory, imagination, and dreams, effectively dissolving the boundaries between the real and the fantastical. This process allows Kim to explore and articulate life’s complexities, providing a means for personal reflection and understanding.

Jin Sha is a Chinese-born Australian artist who lives and works in Beijing and Sydney. He has superb mastery of the traditional Chinese painting technique called gongbi (工筆) , and is internationally renowned for his contemporary Chinese ink painting. By blending traditional techniques with a contemporary twist, Jin boldly reimagines art history, placing classic Renaissance paintings within a Chinese artistic setting. This innovative fusion of Eastern and Western art challenges our notions of identity, power and temptation. His work highlights a key feature of traditional Chinese painting: “leaving blank space”. This concept creates a thoughtful equilibrium with the filled spaces, eliciting an ethereal illusion.