Title: Here————There
Artist: Xiangmei Su
Curator: Steven Dragonn
Date: Feb 17 to Mar 30, 2024
Opening Reception: Saturday Feb 17, 2-6pm
Since 2001, Xiangmei Su’s journey has transcended geographical borders, departing from Suzhou, China, for the educational embrace of Vancouver, Canada. Over two decades of traversing between these countries, the collision of Eastern and Western cultures compelled her into profound self-reflection and a relentless quest to redefine her identity. Amidst the struggle, she discovered the impossibility and unreasonableness of confining herself to a singular cultural essence, evolving instead into the “in-between.” Eventually, she embraced a transcultural identity.
Canada, a mosaic of newcomers since 1867, has elevated diversity to a cornerstone. Canada’s ethos is rooted in profound respect for different cultures and races. Newcomers of diverse origins converge in shared threads of experience – arriving in Canada, embracing new languages and cultures to integrate into this adopted land. Amidst the confusion and wonder, immigrants find excitement, weaving a tapestry of blended cultures where interactions and influences create a nuanced collective identity.
As one of these immigrants, Su’s journey spans between here and there. Engaging with diverse cultures in this nation, she maintains her cultural essence while exchanging values and mutual influence. Now, together with others, she intertwines, forming a tapestry of blended cultures. She is tempted to communicate and cooperate with different cultures in this unique country while preserving her individual cultural characteristics and sharing her valuable experiences with her residing community, where she found that they can also influence each other. In this multicultural expanse, as an immigrant, Su does not simply integrate but actively contributes, carving out meaningful space within the intricate fabric of Canadian society.
About the Artist
Xiangmei Su is a multimedia artist originally from China now residing in Canada. She received her BA in Visual Art at UBC. She works with installation, painting, photography, and video. Su has showcased her work in numerous solo and group exhibitions in both China and Canada. Her first solo show (The Wind) was exhibited in Changshu Art Museum in China in 2012. In 2018 and 2020, she presented solo exhibitions at R Space in Vancouver and Seymour Art Gallery in North Vancouver. In 2022, Su served as an artist-in-residence at Dr. Sun Yet- Sen Classical Chinese Garden, Featuring two solo shows, “ Intangible Thread – Part One” and “Intangible Thread – Part Two.” She has published two catalogues. Beyond her artistic endeavors, Su participated in a TEDx Talk in 2020 titled “Becoming Who I Am.” In 2022, she took on the role of Exhibition Advisor for the West Vancouver Community Art’s Council’s Jury for Exhibitions at the Kay Meek Art Centre.
Her art practices deal with the relations between spaces (cultural, natural, social and individual) and her own cultural identity. The subject of immigration is the one that holds personal meaning for her. Like other immigrants, from her hometown, Changshu, China to Vancouver, Canada, she has been crossing borders and cultures, struggling with the formation of a transnational identity and re-identifying herself as Chinese-Canadian. As a new immigrant in Canada, she experienced both peace and conflict. On one hand, she need to learn and understand the newness in order to fit into her host country. On the other hand, she always feels the primordial pull of her origin. Notions of identity and belonging are consistently in flux and are always being renegotiated by the individual. After struggling between these two cultures for years, she realized that it was impossible and unreasonable for her to actually have a single cultural identity. She started to ask herself what it would be like to live ‘in-between’ spaces, cultures and countries. She eventually shifted to a different investigation of her cultural identity within a new space. She found herself transforming as space and time interweaved to produce complex configurations of individuality and identity, past and present, inside and outside, inclusion and exclusion. These notions combine and overlap to form her new transcultural identities.
CANTON-SARDINE 