I recently met two artists who are currently showing at Arts House as part of Bleed 2024 and I was so chuffed to be commissioned for written responses because both their works are so relevant to my interests and predilections. I was particularly struck by how both works foreground desire and intentionality so I chose to write my responses in the style of Lex posts or personal ads, because I’m a bit obsessed with that form at the moment.
Ciwas Tahos/Anchi Lin 林安琪 is an Indigenous Taiwanese artist whose installation and durational performance work Finding Pathways to Temahahoi connects Atayal oral history with contemporary queer community. It’s very sensual and expansive. You can read my response, ISO Temahahoi, and watch our filmed artist talk here.
Jarra Karalinar Steel is a local Koori artist whose work anyone in Naarm would have seen on the Melbourne Art Tram. Her installation for Bleed 2024, love.exe, draws from video games and fandom to explore romantic love and social surrogacy in digital realms. Our artist talk is here along with my written response, </love>.
I am a bit bummed I only just met Jarra and Anchi now and not, say, on Livejournal in 2002, because I feel like we could’ve been great friends as teenagers.
Anyway if you’re in Melbourne, the installations are open until September 28 and there is also more digital work at the links above.
Jinghua Qian 