TAMMY WONG HULBERT
ARTIST - CURATOR - ACADEMIC
Tammy Wong Hulbert is a visual artist, curator and academic focused on exploring the complex and often fragmented spaces between cultures in a globalising world. She expresses these ideas through her artistic and curatorial projects, which focus on socially engaged practices working with various urban communities. Her broader area of research focuses on curating the inclusive city and how this can contribute towards dialogues on the right to the city, expanding from her doctoral research on The City as a Curated Space, completed in 2011 at RMIT University, Melbourne. Tammy's career has spanned working as an artist, curating, lecturing and researching in the field of contemporary art. Tammy lives and works in Melbourne, Australia and currently lectures at RMIT University, Melbourne in Curating Contemporary Art & Expanded Curating in the Masters of Arts (Arts Management) program for the School of Art.
NEWS & CURRENT PROJECTS
RMIT University, School of Art, Melbourne
March, 2020
The Unmasked Selfies in Solidarity project is a current collaborative participatory art project responding to the Corona Virus health crisis and associated travel ban, which has impacted on our
international Chinese students returning to start this semester in 2020. We miss our international
students, who are an important part of our community at RMIT University. Many are
homebound in China or in self-quarantine in Melbourne due to this extraordinary
situation. Our students are feeling the emotional toll of this new global
health crisis and the associated stigma and racism, which has emerged for our
students and broader Asian-Australian communities. Through Facebook, Instagram, WeChat and Weibo, selfies with messages of support for our community have been uploaded accumulating in our Unmasked Selfie Wall in Building 2 and our exhibition in the Rey Area in Building 24. The project gives a platform to those affected to express themselves and for our wider community to express empathy and solidarity in this time of global crisis. The project team: Isabella Capezio, Marnie Badham, Klare Lansen, Sherry Liu, Wilson Yeung, Jan Sze Wing Ting, Rosina Yuan and Tammy Wong Hulbert. This project is a RMIT School of Art Belonging initiative.
FAR FLUNG: CONNECTING INTERGENERATIONAL FAMILIES LAUNCHES
Manningham Art Gallery, Doncaster
November, 2019
The Far Flung exhibition was finally launched in Manningham on November 13, 2019 with the families who participated in this project. The participants included Alice Moon & Jeong Min Lee (Julia), Camila Cavadid & Karen Cavadid, Candy Li & Di (Brian) Li, Charlene Chen & Hsin-Hui (Rita) Mitic, Doanh (Andrea) Lu & Han Lu, Jialin (Dora) Ke & Yu Xialin, Li Xuan (Alfred) Feng & Chau Man (Nancy) Tsoi, Matthew Huang (Yurui) & Lily Zhou (Zhijuan), Milano Zhang & Chi Zhang, Neena Lim & Kavitha Doraimanickam, Yi Chen Zhang (Eason) & Yehong Zhang (Vicky) and the 'Social-Artists-in-Residence Team' comprised of Tammy Wong Hulbert (lead artist), Sofi Basseghi, Katayoun Javan, Ai Yamamoto (video, photography and sound) and Rongping Jiang (family support & translator) supported by the City of Manningham, funded by Creative Victoria's Creative Suburbs program in partnership with Birralee Primary School, Chinese Community Social Services, The Chinese Museum and RMIT University Contemporary Art and Social Transformation (CAST) running from Nov 13 until Dec 14, 2019.
Hidden Rookwood Sculpture Walk
September, 2019
Two Wongs Making a White was installed as part of the Hidden Rookwood Sculpture Walk for this year's exhibition. This site-specific public art exhibition is in it's 11th annual year and is curated by Dr Kath Fries. Rookwood is a fascinating cemetery and is officially known as a necropolis, a city of the dead. It is also a significant site to my family, as it is where most of my family on my Father's size is buried, except for my absent Grandmother, who this work is about. There are many firsts with this project. The first time I have shown in a cemetery (where some of my family rests). The first time I was curated into a site specific exhibition, bringing new layers of meaning to the work. I feel greatly satisfied with the challenge of working in this context.
GARLAND MAGAZINE: ANCIENT NOW - CHINA ISSUE
June, 2019
Garland Magazine is the World's Crafts Council - Australia's magazine, an on-line magazine which covers the contemporary art and craft activities of the Indo-Pacific region and is edited by RMIT Adjunct Professor Kevin Murray. For the Ancient Now issue focusing on China, I was invited to curate the on-line exhibition on the same theme. It was my first on-line exhibition experience, which we used as an opportunity to connect with RMIT postgraduate art students. Leading up to the opening of submissions, we invited our students to present on how they related to their own practice to the theme of Ancient Now. Through a workshopping of their projects, the students presented an artwork alongside an image of the ancient, which inspired them. The event resulted in a enriching discussing of how the ancient still plays a relevant and engaging influence for these practitioners. Continuing on from this workshop, artists were invited from around the world to submit works also responding to the theme, resulting in the exhibition. On Saturday 22 June, 2019 the Ancient Now symposium at the NGV took place, launching this new issue of the magazine. I spoke about how the symbolism of the dragon continues to inspire and connect new generations in the diaspora, in particular speaking on artist Claire Tracey's Water Dragon (2012) which I curated whilst working at the Chinese Museum, Melbourne.
FAR FLUNG: CONNECTING INTERGENERATIONAL FAMILIES
IN PARTNERSHIP WITH MANNINGHAM COUNCIL
SUPPORTED BY CREATIVE VICTORIA'S CREATIVE SUBURBS PROGRAM
In development through 2019
As the suburbs of Melbourne grow, transform and renew, migration from all around the world transforms our local sense of place and how we perceive it. The middle ring suburb of Doncaster is no exception, with many new apartments and urban infrastructure being built to accomodate new families in an expanding Melbourne. During this project, we have have engaged 11 local families of varied cultural backgrounds. We are well into our sessions with our families, spending many weeks getting to know each other and now building our project, to be ready for our exhibition. Each week has been challenging in developing strategies, as we are constantly refining and rethinking our approaches. We are reviewing and reflecting on our approaches as a community and learning and engaging with ourselves and each other.
Curated by Gretel Taylor, Yarra Ranges Regional Museum, Lilydale
September 8 - October 14, 2018
Force of Nature was an exhibition exploring a range of artists responses to the natural environment through various media such video, installation and performance. Artists include Marnie Badham and Tammy Wong Hulbert, Peter Fraser, Myfanwy Hunter, Gabrielle New, Jill Orr, Gulsen Ozer, Laki Sideris, Melinda Smith, Gretel Taylor and Tony Yap.
For this exhibition I collaborated with artist and academic Marnie Badham on Five Weeks in Spring: An emotional map of Lilydale, a mapping of local people's emotional responses to place and environment, making reference to the work of legendary new genre public artist Suzanne Lacy's 1977 work Three Weeks in May. As artists in residence at the museum during the exhibition, responses from the public were collected to gain a sense of the emotional attachments locals and visitors have to Lilydale and surrounds.
THE INCLUSIVE MUSEUMS CONFERENCE
University of Granada, Granada, Spain
September 6-8, 2018
It was an amazing experience to attend the Inclusive Museums conference at the University of Granada, Granada, Spain. The conference was attended by delegates from all over the world, both from industry and academia. It was great to have the shared interest and discussions on strategies towards working in a more inclusive framework in the development of exhibitions and how to engage audiences. I presented my research work on 'Curating Inclusive Cities' with three other interesting colleagues who were also concerned about how we create urban environments which gives marginalised communities a voice in society through exhibition and curatorial practices. Such an enjoyable few days with good company, new friends and an amazing part of Spain to explore!
WAIPO (GRANDMOTHERS)
Seen through the Eyes of Six Contemporary Chinese Australian Artists
Chinese Museum, Melbourne, May - August, 2018
Seen through the Eyes of Six Contemporary Chinese Australian Artists
Chinese Museum, Melbourne, May - August, 2018
The Waipo (Grandmothers) exhibition features artists Nicholas Chin, Tammy Wong Hulbert, Emilia Johari, Judy Leong, Yinghong Li, and Xiao Yu Ba, curated by Joyce Agee and Nicholas Chin. Two Wongs Making a White imagines a relationship between my Grandmother and myself which never existed. The work shines a light on the impact of 'White Australia' when the migration of Chinese wives were often denied, resulting in families being separated. Stories of my Grandmother have often haunted me, leading to producing a work that cares for her narrative and creates a place for her in our family through imagining the offering of a meal, a way of feeding my 'hungry ghost'. This exhibition is part of collaborative project by the Multicultural Museums Victoria which includes Italian Historical Society & Museo Italiano, the Hellenic Museum, the Islamic Museum of Australia and the Jewish Museum of Australia. Image: Two Wongs Making a White, mixed media installation, 2018, Photograph: Shane Hulbert. Recently Two Wongs Making a White was accepted as part of the Hidden in Rookwood, Sept-Oct, 2019.
An exhibition presented by The Substation, Newport
March 22 - April 21, 2018
An exhibition of contemporary art by Victorian-Asian artists navigating the hyphenated space between cultures
Co-curated by By Phuong Ngo and Tammy Wong Hulbert
Artists: Rushdi Anwar, Sofi Basseghi and Ehsan
Khoshnami, Andy Butler, Rhett D’Costa, Tammy Wong Hulbert,
Nikki Lam, Eugenia Lim, Slippage, Vipoo Srivilasa and Hoang Tran Nguyen
Presented by The Substation and supported by RMIT CAST, MAV and Peril
This exhibition brings together the works of artists of Asian-Australian backgrounds based in Victoria. The exhibition explores the hyphenated space between cultures and how this informs the perspectives of artists who identify with several cultural outlooks.
Image: Still...what is left, Nikki Lam, video, 2017, from The Substation website.
In recent months, Hyphenated the exhibition has evolved to become HYPHENATED PROJECTS a platform for transcultural arts practices, watch this space for future developments.
HYPHENATED: ART & INTERCULTURAL IDENTITY
RMIT CAST/MAV Artists Panel Discussion
Wed 28 March, 2018, 5-7pm, Storey Hall
Artists Rushdi Anwar, Sofi Basseghi and Ehsan Khoshnami, Andy Butler, Rhett D’Costa, Tammy Wong Hulbert,
Nikki Lam, Phuong Ngo, Vipoo Srivilasa and Hoang Tran Nguyen presented their approaches to their work in the exhibition Hyphenated. Artists presented their diverse perspectives, critiquing their position in the Australian context, leading to a rich conversation of how living between cultural spaces informs one's sense of self and cultural outlook. The panel was presented by RMIT Contemporary Art and Social Transformation and Multicultural Arts Victoria (MAV), hosted by Andy Miller, General Manager, MAV. Image: Panel speakers in action - Rushdi Anwar, Sofi Basseghi and Ehsan Khoshnami, Andy Butler, Rhett D’Costa (top) and Hoang Tran Nguyen, Tammy Wong Hulbert, Phuong Ngo, Nikki Lam, Vipoo Srivilasa and Andy Miller of MAV (bottom).
ANONYMOUS SOJOURNERS IN THE AUSTRALIAN BUSH
Working with the St Andrews, Victoria community, Dec 2017 - March 2018
Anonymous Sojourners in the Australian Bush is a socially engaged public art project with the St Andrews community of Melbourne and Nillumbik Shire as part of their Living in the Landscape Public Arts Incubator. The project looks back in time, investigating the unknown history of anonymous Chinese miners from the 1850s. The project focuses on how contemporary art can reimagine and reconnect with a forgotten migrant community history and is developed in collaboration with the St Andrews Men's Shed. The project has now been decommissioned. Two of the lanterns remain inside at the Wadambuk Community Centre and four will be become part of the St Andrews Primary School community.
BELONGING & THE TRANSIENT HOME
A collaborative public art project with Vicseg Social Health Group, April 2016
Research paper published January 2018
Belonging and the Transient Home was a project building on my interest in how art can play a role in encouraging inclusive cities and communities. The project emerged from my earlier work in Glenroy, Victoria on the Artists Incubator project. Building on an existing relationship with the Vicseg Asylum Seekers Social Health Group, this project was specifically developed with the Iranian family playgroup, based in the northern suburb of Broadmeadows, Melbourne. The project explored ways in which an art based project, can be developed with newly arrived migrant communities, with the aim of encouraging participation in creativity, through a public outcome. This project explores the overarching theme of belonging in a new urban society, explored through the sharing of culture, themes of mobility, which encourage a rethinking of our relationship with the ever increasingly complex idea of home. Read my recent journal article reflecting on this work in the International Journal of Practice Based Humanities published in Volume 2, January, 2018.
Images at the top:
1. Flavours of Glenroy, (in collaboration with artist Rowena Booth), artwork, public art intervention, Glenroy, Victoria, 2013-15
2. Lumens Festival: Curating the Ancient City, co-curated with Shane Hulbert, Clare Leporati & Geoff Hogg, Suzhou, China, 2012
3. Public Sleepers, (in collaboration with artist Shao Xiong Chia), artwork, public art project, Sile, Turkey, 2010.