Adrian Jing Song and Phương Lê
Red Bean Soup
6
March 2024
6
Mar
2024
29
Mar 2024
Gallery 3
Red Bean Soup
Adrian Jing Song and Phương Lê
6
March 2024
6
March
2024
29
March 2024
Gallery 3
Red Bean Soup brings together the work of Asian diasporic artists; Yi "11" Zhou, Kaede James Takamoto, Phương Nguyen Le, Sherry Zheng, Minh-An Pham, and Adrian Jing Song.
The installation serves as a culmination of their experiences as they each make return trips to their hometowns, and grapple with the loss of loved ones, family secrets, fragmented memories, and feelings of un-belonging. Their shared struggle draws solace from the symbolism of the iconic Red Bean Soup.
No one knows of the dish's origin, but it has made its way across Chinese, Japanese, Malaysian, and Vietnamese cuisine. Though the dish exists in a multitude of variations, the partaking of Red Bean Soup has always symbolised good fortune, happiness, and the overcoming of hardship.
Poster credit: Kaede James Takamoto.
Main Image Description: This image centres a person wearing underwear laying on a bed, pointing a black remote towards the camera.
Red Bean Soup brings together the work of Asian diasporic artists; Yi "11" Zhou, Kaede James Takamoto, Phương Nguyen Le, Sherry Zheng, Minh-An Pham, and Adrian Jing Song.
The installation serves as a culmination of their experiences as they each make return trips to their hometowns, and grapple with the loss of loved ones, family secrets, fragmented memories, and feelings of un-belonging. Their shared struggle draws solace from the symbolism of the iconic Red Bean Soup.
No one knows of the dish's origin, but it has made its way across Chinese, Japanese, Malaysian, and Vietnamese cuisine. Though the dish exists in a multitude of variations, the partaking of Red Bean Soup has always symbolised good fortune, happiness, and the overcoming of hardship.
Adrian Jing Song
Adrian Jing Song was born in Shah Alam and currently lives in Naarm, on the unceded land of the Wurundjeri and Boon Wurrung people of the Kulin nation.
Phương Lê
Phương Nguyen Lê (b. 2002) is a Vietnamese emerging artist studying in Naarm (Melbourne). Through his photographic practice, he focuses on themes of collective identity, family, sexuality, and decolonisation. This brings Phương to unpack his positionality in an ongoing colonial structure, one that persists across the Asia-Pacific region through forms of discriminatory violence, censorship, and cultural-political division.
Phương is currently interested in exploring the occupying space between documentary and art photography with projects that concern his surrounding communities. He hopes to further expand his research and practice in collaboration with emerging Vietnamese and South East Asian art and photography voices.