WHAT’S ON
Oriental Futures | Zoe Wong
Opening | Friday 21st June 5pm-8pm
Exhibition Dates | 22nd June – 5th July
Boxcopy acknowledges the Traditional Owners of the land upon which we operate and pay our respect to Elders past, present and emerging. We extended this respect to all First Peoples
Oriental Futures is an exhibition exploring the oriental setting that is apparent in sci-fi cinema, particularly that of Blade Runner (1982) and Blade Runner 2049 (2017). This series aims to reconcile the use of ‘Asia’ as decoration within predominantly white storylines by highlighting its appearance and making it central to the images. By placing herself in the images the artist assumes these futuristic asian stereotypes to question her own identity in relation to how asian culture is perceived in Western cinema.
Zoe Wong is an emerging Sydney based artist. Her practice explores her half Chinese, half Australian heritage as well as her queer identity through photographic appropriation and installations. Her work illustrates the complexities behind the influence that pop culture has on society’s notions of race and identity and how we perceive ourselves through representation in mass media. Wong describes her practice as a “De-Orientalising” practice in which she works to break down and critique notions of the East presented in a Western context.
Announcing Boxcopy’s new Co-Director Team!
Boxcopy welcomes 5 new co-directors – Nicholas Aloisio-Shearer – Naomi Blacklock – Jessica Carmody – Hilary Thurlow – Emily Wakeling.
Biographies
Nicholas Aloisio-Shearer is an artist and independent curator whose practice is concerned with the digital conditions of contemporary life. His art practice explores photography, video games and the visual culture that surrounds them. He has exhibited in a number of artist-run spaces including First Draft (Sydney), Kudos Gallery (Sydney) and Bus Projects (Melbourne) and received an Artstart Grant (2015) from the Australian Council for the Arts. His collaborative curatorial projects (with Finn Marchant) were presented at Kudos Gallery (2017), and Alaska Projects (2015), Sydney. Nicholas graduated with Honours from a Bachelor of Design in Photography and Situated Media at UTS in 2014 and in 2018 is completing a Masters of Fine Art (Research) at UNSW Art and Design. Nicholas’ professional experience includes working as a Communications Assistant (Artspace, Sydney), Photographer and Graphic Designer (Roslyn Oxley9 Gallery, Sydney) and as a Freelance Photographer/ Designer (2011-2018). From 2015 – 2018 Nicholas was a sessional lecturer and tutor in photography at the University of Technology, Sydney.
Naomi Blacklock is an Anglo-Indian artist based in Brisbane, Australia who works primarily with sound installation, text works and performance. Her artworks involve an exploration and examination of mythologies regarding the witch archetype and harmful histories of gender and cultural identity. Naomi has exhibited her work nationally including projects at Bus Projects (Melbourne), Seventh Gallery (Melbourne), Institute of Modern Art (Brisbane), Metro Arts (Brisbane), The Walls Art Space (Gold Coast), First Draft (Sydney) and also at Ildiko Butler Gallery (New York). She was shortlisted for the Jeremy Hynes Award (2017) and received the NAVA Ignition Award for Professional Practice (2015). Naomi is currently completing her PhD with the support of an Australian Postgraduate Award at QUT, where she also teaches as a Sessional Academic in Art History and in the Open Studio program. She has also worked for 5 years as an Art Education Coordinator at the YMCA including running art history events at schools. Naomi was a founding member of the Clutch Collective artist-run initiative, presenting exhibitions using a three-ton truck as a gallery.
Jessica Carmody is an emerging artist based in Brisbane, Australia. Her visual arts practice is concerned with the importance of memory and the paradox of performing intimacy through re-construction and re-enactment in sculpture and performance works. Jessica was awarded a Bachelor of Fine Arts (Visual Arts) with Distinction in 2017 and she is currently undertaking a Master of Philosophy (Creative Practice) at the Queensland University of Technology. In 2018 Jessica was the Gallery Assistant at Boxcopy Contemporary Art Space. This role included managing the gallery and assisting with events, exhibitions and research projects. She is currently undertaking an Internship at Eyeline Publishing and was also part of the Graduate Exhibition Management Committee at QUT in 2017.
Hilary Thurlow is an emerging writer and curator based in Brisbane, Australia. Hilary completed a Bachelor of Arts majoring in Art History at UQ in 2017 and is currently completing her Honours dissertation titled ‘Queering the Archive: New Approaches to Feminist Historiography in the work of Dale Harding and Barbara Cleveland’ at the same institution. This research seeks to understand how non-confirmative archives in contemporary arts practice shape feminist modes of historiography. Her professional experience includes working as a Front-of-House Attendant, and Digital Communications Assistant and volunteer at UQ Art Museum, as a volunteer at Griffith Artworks (Griffith University), and a volunteer at the Queensland Art Gallery | Gallery of Modern Art. Hilary was also a Board Member of the student organization, the Society of Fine Arts (SoFA), UQ. In 2018 Hilary completed the Goldsmiths (University of London) Curatorial Summer School program, ’Curating the Contemporary’ held at the British School in Rome.
Emily Wakeling is a writer and curator who has broad experience in the arts industry including in Japan and the UK. Emily completed a Master of Philosophy in Art History at UQ in 2010 and is currently undertaking a PhD focused on curatorial studies at QUT with the support of an Australian Government Research Training Program Scholarship. In 2018 she has been contracted as an Assistant Curator, Asian and Pacific Art, at the Queensland Art Gallery | Gallery of Modern Art, working on the 9th Asia Pacific Triennial of Contemporary Art. Emily lived and worked for several years in Tokyo, as an editor for Tokyo Art Beat and as an adjunct lecturer at Joshibi University of Art & Design and Kanagawa University. Emily’s curatorial projects include the upcoming “All We Can Do is Pray” at Boxcopy (2019); “Come Close: Japanese Artists within their Communities” Bus Projects, Melbourne (2015) and solo exhibitions by Archie Moore at Higure 17-15 CAS, Tokyo and Courtney Coombs at Rojitohito Gallery, Tokyo (2012). Her writing on art has been included in numerous art journals including Eyeline Contemporary Visual Arts, Art Monthly Australasia, ArtAsiaPacific and ArtReview Asia.
Boxcopy is proud to be a founding member of All Conference – a national organising network comprised of 15 artist-led, experimental and cross-disciplinary arts organisations.
Representing a crucial stratum of the Australian arts ecology, All Conference members present diverse and innovative artistic programs which support the practices of living Australian artists. They connect these practices to diverse audiences via a passionate localism coupled with significant national and international peer-to-peer networks.
Founding members include: Alaska Projects (NSW), BLINDSIDE (VIC), Boxcopy (QLD), Bus Projects (VIC), c3 (VIC), Constance (TAS), FELTspace (SA), Firstdraft (NSW), Kings ARI (VIC), Moana (WA), Liquid Architecture (VIC), Runway (NSW), Seventh (VIC), Trocadero Artspace (VIC), and Un Projects (VIC).
