Transcript
My name is Jenny Zhe Chang. I'm making sculpture and the site-specific installation artwork
I've [been] based in Melbourne for 13 years, I exhibit in New York, Beijing and Taipei and Asia Pacific.
Light with Hope – Harmonious is actually, is at second stage of the Test Sites program.
Initially we were in 260 days lockdown in Melbourne 2020 and I thought, can we make something in the public and light it up? So that's the original idea, I want to make a lantern.
Using traditional bamboo steamers and the modern safety mesh, this artwork creates symbolic minors' lamps and intends to deliver a message of Refuge for those who enter into the unknown and seeking a better life.
We have 278 lanterns at different branches, at 17 trees.
Based on the Australian Bureau of Statistic, they release a figure in 2019, we have 278 cultural and ethnic groups in Australia.
So every lantern we're hanging a harmonious word under the lantern in [a] different language.
Looking after our environment and the land became the focal point of the project's evolution.
I researched walking tracks around the City of Melbourne. Birrarung Marr is one of the most beautiful walking tracks around.
The location is convenient for commuters and tourists alike and it is a beautiful peaceful place. Working in the public realm is different from just creating artwork.
It has many factors to consider since your audience will be a lot more diverse than gallery and museum visitors.
You have to consider the viewers’ age group, the ability to appreciate art, safety issues and how to engage them with a positive experience. Whatever important to the artist I think whatever the outward perception in the public how the audience and public to get it and the information and the value and how they react to the artwork, I think that's very important to the artist.
The most important question to me is how I can make an artwork not only enlighten me but others in broader communities.