Caroline Chiu - Dreaming: A Chinese Wunderkammer

Subtitled: Caroline Chiu: Polaroids as Chinese Ink Painting

These photographs are taken from Hong Kong artist Caroline Chiu's larger series entitled Dreaming: A Chinese Wunderkammer. Wunderkammer were 17th- and 18th-century European "wonder rooms" or "cabinets of curiosity"--some of the earliest known "museums"--which contained specimens reflecting the natural world, anthropology, archaeology, relics, and art. The late Qing emperor Qianlong, known for his passion for the arts, also pursued this type of collecting.

In Chiu's case, she collects, by photography, objects representing the material culture of traditional China: bonsai, scholar's rocks, flowers, artworks depicting the animal zodiac, and, here, goldfish. Her choice of subjects makes reference to historical Chinese culture; her graphic photographic images of goldfish suggest the brushstrokes of traditional Chinese ink painting and the sweeping abstract shapes of Chinese writing.
Because the images were taken with a rare 20 x 24 inch Polaroid camera--for which film is no longer manufactured--the exhibition is also an elegy to the era of Polaroid cameras and film.

A portion of her artists statement:

The fundamental question I am exploring through the Wunderkammer is what is Chinese culture? What is the meaning of Chinese objects? What is their beauty? Given the break with its own history during the Cultural Revolution, how do Chinese people perceive Chinese historical culture? The wunderkammer is my way of imagining the answer. It is, if you will, an ever-expanding wonder cabinet filled with objects that help to build memories and culture. I believe "A Chinese Wunderkammer" will be my life's most important work.

See a review in the South Bend Tribune and more on Caroline Chiu here. Via Monoscope.

Caroline Chiu - Dreaming: A Chinese Wunderkammer

Subtitled: Caroline Chiu: Polaroids as Chinese Ink Painting

These photographs are taken from Hong Kong artist Caroline Chiu's larger series entitled Dreaming: A Chinese Wunderkammer. Wunderkammer were 17th- and 18th-century European "wonder rooms" or "cabinets of curiosity"--some of the earliest known "museums"--which contained specimens reflecting the natural world, anthropology, archaeology, relics, and art. The late Qing emperor Qianlong, known for his passion for the arts, also pursued this type of collecting. In Chiu's case, she collects, by photography, objects representing the material culture of traditional China: bonsai, scholar's rocks, flowers, artworks depicting the animal zodiac, and, here, goldfish. Her choice of subjects makes reference to historical Chinese culture; her graphic photographic images of goldfish suggest the brushstrokes of traditional Chinese ink painting and the sweeping abstract shapes of Chinese writing. Because the images were taken with a rare 20 x 24 inch Polaroid camera--for which film is no longer manufactured--the exhibition is also an elegy to the era of Polaroid cameras and film.