A Blind Passion

A Blind Passion

Co-produced and co-hosted by Angela Liang & Siying Zhou

Friday 29th November, 5-6pm

This series examines the meaning of success through conversations with artists who have received notices from Blindside-ARI about their unsuccessful applications. Three artists are invited to discuss their art practice, ongoing projects, and personal perspectives on what it means to succeed as a contemporary artist today. Alongside the artists, Xi Liu, a therapist specialising in cultural and gender-responsive support, offers insights into navigating ideas of success and failure within the art world. Co-produced by Angela Liang, an emerging curator and Siying Zhou, a visual artist, this series will air weekly.

Episode ONE

Guest Speakers:

Thitibodee Rungteerawattananon

Thitibodee Rungteerawattananon is a Bangkok-born artist whose work explores memory, identity, and cultural exchange. Known for the Mass Art Project, an evolving platform that invites artists and communities to shape art together, Thitibodee’s practice spans painting, installation, and conceptual projects, challenging traditional structures in the art world. Their acclaimed Thai Message project, now part of the Maiiam Contemporary Art Museum’s collection, exemplifies Thitibodee’s commitment to accessible, democratic spaces that foster dialogue across cultures.

Instagram: @thitibodee_r

Corinna Berndt

Corinna Berndt is a visual artist and arts worker based in Naarm. Her practice addresses pre-conceived notions surrounding embodiment, materiality and disembodiment, when navigating the digital realm. She recently completed a PhD at the Victorian College of the Arts, where she also teaches as sessional academic. Alongside her own practice, Corinna is actively engaged in supporting local emerging artists and ARIS, and she often collaborates with others on side projects.

Website: corinnaberndt.net

References: Kim Liao, “What Collecting 100 Rejections Taught Me About Creative Failure: The Accidental Rejection Expert Revisits Her Viral Essay,” Literary Hub, February 6, 2019, https://lithub.com/what-collecting-100-rejections-taught-me-about-creative-failure/.

Kim Liao, “Why You Should Aim For 100 Rejections A Year,” Literary Hub, February 6, 2019, https://lithub.com/why-you-should-aim-for-100-rejections-a-year/.

The music: Sum41, "Fat Lip," track in All Killer No Filler, 2001.

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Friday 6th December, 5 - 6pm

Episode TWO:

Guest Speaker:

Christina Darras

Christina Darras is an artist who invests in long tactile processes. She connects with the materiality of her mediums: the paint, the brush, the yarns, or the pencil. This connection assists her in translating her ideas and thoughts into an image through a long meditative process. Her artworks are characterised by vivid colours that are constantly mixed to create new cohesive families of colours. Her imagery blends abstract and figurative elements, often presenting a deceptive sense of cuteness. The sugar-sweet colours and characters masque a sense of melancholy. Childlike figures are signs of memory and a longing for familiarity. Memory is used to approach the meaning of identity. In a search to open out the artwork beyond the squareness of the canvas, Darras knits crocheted shapes outside of the centre of the image, which serve as a support frame and a part of the image simultaneously. Through her forms of peculiar bodies in perplexing postures, she expresses the challenge of feeling at ease with constant change and unfamiliarity. Darras has her studio at Creative Spaces at Collins St.

Website: https://christinadarras.com/

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/christinadarrascom/

Friday 13th December, 5 - 6pm

Episode THREE:

Guest Speaker:

Xi Liu

Dr. Xi Liu (they/them) is a queer, Chinese-Australian Clinical Psychologist, renowned internationally for adapting Schema Therapy for marginalized communities by integrating societal and cultural factors. Passionate about accessible mental health, Xi demystifies therapy through creative arts and writing. Their Sydney-based practice focuses on trauma, grief and LGBTQIA+ wellbeing.

Website: http://lifetherapy.org

References: Manaya Pride Program, The Iceberg Foundation, https://www.theicebergfoundation.org/manaya.

The music: Queen, Don't Stop Me Now, Jazz, track #12, EMI & Elektra, 1978.

The producers:

Angela Liang 梁安琪

Angela is an emerging curator interested in migrant histories and experiences. Using social engagement and divergent ways of storytelling as the foundation of their curatorial practice, they explore concepts of representation, identity and diaspora histories through research into new media art practices, digital heritage and online culture. Angela currently resides in Naarm and works within the local art ecology. 🌸

Instagram: @aiyaaiyaaaaaaaa

Siying Zhou

Born in China, Zhou is a visual artist whose practice draws upon her Chinese heritage and social status as an Asian female immigrant in the West. Through producing predominantly installation works, Zhou uses spatial structure and materiality of various media, such as video, photography, performance, drawings and text, to undertake her research about cultural difference and cultural representation, and to create discussions about ontological issues about Asian immigrants and epistemological experiences formed in the visual art. Zhou’s artworks have been exhibited nationally and internationally and also included in private collections. She obtained her Master of Fine Art at the Victorian College of the Art, the University of Melbourne, in 2018.

Website:www.siyingzhou.com

Instagram: @siying_z