3.12, 18:30
Identity as a social construct. Conversation with Kate Ngan Wa Ao
As part of the Artysta – Artist – Kunstler – художник series
Conducting: Vera Zalutskaya
Registration for the live event: visit@openheim.org

> The event will also take place online. The broadcast will be available on OP ENHEIM’s Facebook profile and in the event: LINK.
> Event in English.

 

Kate Ngan Wa Ao is a multimedia artist, originally from Macau and living in Poland. Macau is a special administrative region of the People’s Republic of China and a former Portuguese colony. Inhabitants and residents of Macau use three official languages and have separate laws from the rest of the country. Kate Ngan Wa Ao moved from a place with such a complicated geopolitical situation, among other things, in order to find herself and better understand her own identity.

Using her work as an example, we will talk about how we can understand identity, whether it is something permanent or whether it is in constant change. Moreover, we will also touch upon the experience of studying and living in Poland of an artist coming from such a different cultural background. This will become a starting point for a conversation about perception of others, exoticization and self-exoticization, as well as the problem of objectification of women, especially those coming from non-European countries.

 

Kate Ngan Wa Ao (Kate Samozwaniec) is originally from Macau, and has lived in Taiwan, the United States and various European countries. She is currently pursuing a master’s degree in photography at the University of Arts in Poznan. Her works are inspired by childhood memories, gender roles, feminism, racial identity, human-nature conflicts, etc.

ZA*Group
*foreign artists living in Poland

ZA*Group was founded in 2020 in Warsaw, Poland. It is formed by Yuriy Biley, Yulia Krivich, Vera Zalutskaya. The group deals with the topic of the migration experience of foreign female and male artists living in Poland. We are interested in how the cultural landscape of Poland changes due to the integration of new people coming from different contexts. Additionally, we are interested in popularizing foreign female and male artists living in Poland and addressing issues related to their working conditions.

Yuriy Biley is a visual artist and curator. Co-founder and member of Open Group (2012), from 2019 co-curator of the independent exhibition space NEW
GOLD. He comes from Uzhhorod (Ukraine) and lives in Wroclaw.

Yulia Krivich – visual artist, photographer. In her work she takes up questions of identity, creates actions in public space. She comes from Dnieper (Ukraine) and lives in Warsaw.

Vera Zalutskaya – curator and coordinator of contemporary art, mainly interested in the art of Central and Eastern Europe in the context of postcolonial studies. She comes from Grodno (Belarus) and lives in Warsaw.

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Organiser: OP ENHEIM
Project co-financed by the Municipality of Wrocław (www.wroclaw.pl) as part of the Programme “Wrocław Strategy for Intercultural Dialogue” 2018-2022 and the Foundation for Polish-German Cooperation.