The 8th Asian Australian Identities Conference:
Past, Present, Future
3 November 2023
University of Adelaide

The Asian Australian Studies Research Network

The 8th Asian Australian Identities Conference (AAI8) of the Asian Australian Studies Research Network (AASRN) will be held on Friday, 3 November 2023 in partnership with the University of Adelaide. It is part of the OzAsia ‘In other Worlds’ program.

What does it mean to be a creative Asian-Australian in Southwestern Sydney ?

In this paper, I ruminate on the question, What does it mean to be a creative Asian-Australian in Southwestern Sydney? Through my personal narrative as a Southeast Asian-Australian with a contemporary craft and design lens examine these ideas. By analysing the varied transcultural experiences, reveal how the loci of home and place can inform and be a methodical framework for designing a visual language that speaks about identity. There are limited writings that respond to Asian-Australians in Southwestern Sydney and therefore I want to contribute to this dialogue.

To begin, I will reflect on my identity, family migration and contemporary jewellery and object practice as a framework to discuss the influence of place on visual practice. To contextualise this, I refer to Homi Bhabha’s (1994) ‘third space’ theory and diasporic scholars Ien Ang (2001) and Nikos Papastergiadis (2000). Their scholarship on cultural hybridity can help examine the vernacular of place and identity.

Through this context, I use Cabramatta as a case study to show how flows of culture have transformed the area and become a sense of belongingness through the narrative motif of place for many. I explore how the narrative and the motif of place are constructed in my practice to speak about cultural hybridity and what makes my Asian-Australian identity. By reflecting on my own practice, I discuss how place-making has informed the visual design language in my work and view how other Asian-Australian artists negotiate these concepts to investigate what it means to be Asian-Australian through the visual practice of making.