Panel Talk with Casey Chen & Louise Zhang. Kitsch, Nostalgia, and the Third Culture: Navigating Identity Through Art.

Join artists Casey Chen and Louise Zhang in conversation, discussing their exploration of third-culture identity, cultural alienation, and the role of nostalgia in shaping personal and collective narratives through art. Running alongside their concurrent solo exhibitions, Casey Chen's Another Jingdezhen Car Boot Sale and Louise Zhang's Moving in Quiet — both artists are deeply influenced by their Chinese-Australian heritage, using their practices to interrogate and celebrate the complexities of cultural belonging.

Casey Chen’s ceramic works playfully reimagine nostalgic symbols of our childhoods through the aesthetics and craftsmanship of fine porcelain ceramics, a time traveler from the Qing dynasty obsessed with Looney toons and American cars. Incorporating motifs and allusions to popular Asian folklore and their re-appropriation in modern media, Casey addresses the role of pop culture in cultural memory. His works challenge perceptions of taste and value, exploring how objects tied to identity can legitimize feelings of displacement and belonging. 

Louise Zhang’s work blends traditional Chinese aesthetics with surreal, otherworldly landscapes, recontextualizing motifs from chinoiserie, the appropriation of Asian aesthetics, and from her own personal cultural history and identity. Her works inherently explore tension between the familiar and the foreign, disguising elements of horror in her signature pastel palette, creating a lingering feeling of curiosity and discomfort. Having collaborated with MECCA, appearing on Vogue Australia, and featuring in multiple major collections across the country, Louise's distinct and recognisable style has brought the discussion of third culture identity into the mainstream.

Together, Casey and Louise will discuss how their practices interrogate third-culture identity, the creative potential of kitsch, and the ways nostalgia operates as a tool of cultural legitimation. Facilitated by Ianni Huang, the conversation will discuss how art can navigate the fluid, often contradictory spaces of cultural hybridity, and what the experiences of Asian-Australians navigating within the arts reveals about Australia's changing sentiment to culture and multiculturalism.

Date: 15 February , Saturday. 

Time: 11am-12pm. 

Cost: Free.

Location: N.Smith Gallery. 15 Foster Street, Surry Hills, NSW. 

Accessibility: Small step at the entrance of the gallery. Stools without backs. Contact for other accessibility requirements here.