Identiparts (1998-2000)
Identiparts was an installation work that consisted of one hundred facial features parts (mouths, noses and eyelids), packaged as cosmetics and labelled according to outdated anthropological racial categories of Caucasoid, Negroid and Mongoloid to imply that even racial identity can be considered a mutable state, as a response to developments in the cosmetics industry. The work placed race into a contemporary social context, making racial categories a consumable product and commented on how easily our physical identities are able to be altered. The original work was developed as an object based installation accompanied by advertising campaigns. As the project developed the work adapted to become site and context specific, which began to feature more prominently as a part of the work. The project was placed into the department store site of Myers, Sydney (1998) to give the work further context and in King Street Chemist, Newtown, NSW as part of the Walk in The Streets Art Festival (1999). These early experiments led to my interest in site specific art and it's relationship to various audiences.
This project was shown in:
Biomorphs, Gallery 4A, Sydney (1999) exploring interfaces between the body and technology, curated by Tiffany Lee Shoy
This Way Up (1999) Object Galleries, Sydney, a National Exhibition of Top Art and Design graduates in Australia
Body Art (2000), The Australian Museum, touring exhibition various cultural uses of the body as art
Dialogo: The Other, (2000) Chiesa Santa Maria Teresa dei Maschi, Bari, Italy, an exhibition of contemporary Chinese art exhibition, 2000
Mask vs. Face, (2001) curated by Zhang Zhaohui, Red Gate Gallery, Beijing, China.
Ping Yao Photography Exhibition, (2002) curated by Shu Yang, Ping Yao, China, Contemporary Chinese Photography exhibition in the Ping Yao Photography Festival, 2002
Media:
Art Face Value, Carol Lu, That’s Beijing, 2002
Oyster Magazine, 1999
