INFORMATION

CURRENT PROJECT

Bok Gwai (White Ghost)
Aspex Gallery - 4 February - 1 April

Aspex Gallery, 27 Brougham Road, Portsmouth, PO5 4PA
T: +44(0)23 9281 2121 E: info@aspex.org.uk www.aspex.org.uk Open: Tuesday - Friday 12-6pm & Saturday 12-4pm Admission FREE

Wednesday 1 March 7.30pm
Anthony Key Gallery Talk at Aspex Gallery

The artist will recount his search for identity through his art practice. Admission FREE. ARC one to one surgeries led by Anthony Key will take place earlier in the afternoon. To apply please send four recent images of your work along with a short statement and CV to: resource@aspex.org.uk or the address below by 20 February

From South China to South London, Unit 2 Gallery

A retrospective of work from 1996 to 2004
20 January - 17 February 2006
Unit 2 Gallery, London Metropolitan University, Central House, 59-63 Whitechapel High Street, E17PF
Details at www.unit2.co.uk

Artist Statement on Bok Gwai (White Ghost)

The term bok gwai (white ghost/foreign devil) is a pejorative term used by local Chinese and aimed at the white colonizers of South China, after China's defeat in the Opium wars. The title is used here not only to describe the piece but also to reference those historical interchanges between the British and the Chinese that resulted in the 'coming home' of former British/Chinese as migrants to the UK.

As a result of my residency here at IMMA, my work has entered a new phase. Up to this point I have used the tin foil Chinese takeaway carton intact as an iconic container to talk about immigrant cultures. I am now 'deconstructing' the carton. Instead of using them as containers I have flattened them out to make tin-foil plates that are stapled together to form a skin. This foil sheet is then pressed, burnished and formed around things. The sculpture that I have made here is a cast of the complete kitchen in my apartment here at IMMA, its memory impressed upon this foil skin.

When I came to Dublin the first thing I had to find was where I could purchase Chinese provisions to cook. Having done that I could then negotiate with my new world, in a sense, all new experiences is filtered through my kitchen. In order to survive their uncertain situations, immigrants take comfort and rely on their familiar food and a place to prepare this. I believe we carry a metaphorical and invisible kitchen around with us, so this is what I have built.