LYNDEN BASSETT, CHIN-JIE MELODIE LIU, CHANEL NGUYEN, NATASHA TAREEN, Curated by YONA SU and JOYCE FAN

Everything I Am Not

5 - 14 July 2024, CCAS Manuka

The exhibition showcases two new collaborative works created by individual pairs of artists and composers, reacting to the title and theme of Everything I Am Not.

The first artwork by Lynden Bassett and Natasha Tareen features a collaborative reactive improvised performance of experimental music and free-hand graphic drawing. The collaborative work transmits the artists’ personal experiences and emotions towards discrimination. Likewise, the second artwork by Chanel Nguyen and Melodie Liu critically grapples with the objectification and sexualisation of Southeast Asian bodies using everyday items such as calendars and photo books to demonstrate being in the gaze of the objectifier.

The works presented seek to share and reflect these creatives’ personal experiences with identity, exclusion, and isolation in Western-dominated industries. They show the parts of themselves that are different, unconventional and non-white to make us step back to reflect on who we are, and everything we are not.

Image: Chanel Nguyen and Chin-Jie Melodie Liu Everything I Am Not 2024, digital collage, photo by Chanel Nguyen