TAMMY WONG HULBERT 黄雪慧
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 collaborating with various urban communities. Her broader area of research focuses on 'curating inclusive cities' to contribute towards dialogues on the right to the city, expanding from her doctoral research on The City as a Curated Space (2011). Tammy's career has spanned working as an artist, curating, lecturing and researching in the field of contemporary art. She lives and works in Melbourne, Australia and is a Senior Lecturer in curatorial courses in the Masters of Arts (Arts Management) and the International Co-ordinator, School of Art, College of Design and Social Context at RMIT University.
PROJECTS UPDATES & NEWS
One Tree Hill, Tremont, Victoria
The Big Anxiety Festival, Yarra Ranges Regional Museum, Ridgewalk and CAST RMIT
October 2022
What if we memorialized ecological loss like we did battles? (Alan Sonfist, artist, 1968)
Working with fellow artist Marnie Badham, To the fallen trees is a socially engaged project paying tribute to those trees which have fallen in the Dandenong Ranges after the catastrophic storms of June 2021. Responding to the site of tree debris, we plan to work closely with the local community to write 'letters of empathy' to our beloved trees and express our concerns and hopes for the future of our natural environment. The project will be documented as a sound recording, photographs and video and will accumulate in a performance at One Tree Hill, Tremont for the Big Anxiety Festival - Naarm/Melbourne program in October. Image: Emmet reading to the trees at One Tree Hill, 2022, photo: Tammy Wong Hulbert
BECOMING HOME: STORIES OF CHINESE-AUSTRALIANS
ArtSpace, Realm, Ringwood, Victoria
February - March 2022
Becoming Home: Stories of Chinese-Australians is a creative and collaborative project highlighting the voices of Chinese-Australians, in development during the recent and difficult pandemic years of 2020-21. A collaboration between Chinese-Australian participants Fiona Wu, Jenny Zhuang, Leo Ren, Jiawen Lin, Lesley Lowe and Paul Cheong and artist Siying Zhou (multi-media artist), Ai Yamamoto (sound artist) and Tammy Wong Hulbert (curator) focusing on the personal stories of Chinese-Australians in the Maroondah area and how the area has become their ideal home. This collaboration reflects upon the personal stories of Chinese-Australians. both new and old to Australia, focusing on how 'home' is a process of becoming. The project also draws from historical materials of the Cheong family, a significant Chinese-Australian family in the local area since the Victorian era. The project was developed in partnership with The Chinese Museum, Chinese Community Social Services Inc. and RMIT CAST and opened to the public on February 1 2022 to welcome in the new lunar year of the Tiger.
INNOVATIVE RESEARCH AWARD
Australian Council of University Art and Design (ACUADS)
November 2021
This month I received a national research award from ACUADS in recognition of innovative research in art and design fields. I was really grateful to receive the award for my continued development of creative and curatorial projects involving under represented culturally diverse communities. The award is encouraging and motivates me to continue working in a collaborative way with diverse communities in the arts. The last two years of pandemic has been a difficult time in not being able to build relationships through collaborations in the traditional way and has really been challenging in terms of the limitations of digital relationships. In considering these set back, the experience has allowed me to reflect upon and reconsider methodologies used in my research, hopefully with improving approaches taken in future research projects.
VITAL ARTS: YOUNG PEOPLE AND SKILLS FOR THE FUTURE
ARC Linkage Project Success
September 2021
It is with great pleasure I am able to announce that with fellow investigators Professor Anna Hickey-Moody (CI), Professor Peter Kelly (CI), Associate Professor Scott Brook (CI), Dr Rimi Khan (PI), Ms Lesley Giles (PI), Dr Christen Cornell (PI) we have been awarded $900 000 over three years for an Australian Research (ARC) Linkage project. The skills and experiences of young people in arts programs will be captured and accredited as part of a new collaborative research project funded by the Australian Research Council. “Vital arts: Young people and skills for their future” is a joint project with researchers at RMIT, RMIT Vietnam, and The Australia Council of the Arts that will engage with a range of partners across the youth arts sector to build micro-credentials that recognise the employable skills developed through youth arts activities, creating new pathways to employment in the COVID-19 recession.
Industry Partners include: Australia Council for the Arts, Australian Theatre for Young People, The Push, Future Foundation, Centre for Multicultural Youth, Back to Back Theatre and Work Advance.
Digital Symposium
September-October 2021
Hosted by West Space, Enjoy Contemporary Art Space, Para Site and Western Front & CAST
It's been my pleasure to be part of the team producing the digital symposium The Region. Co-created and presented by four of the longest-standing artist organisations in the Asia-Pacific region, The Region is a digital symposium that examines pressing questions of power and precarity, with a focus on artist self-organisation. It considers the objectives, freedoms and responsibilities of small institutions as they exist across contemporary contexts of urban gentrification and Western hegemony, whose shared futures are informed by local and specific histories, and which are expressed today through new forms of curating and collectivity.
Special Issue: Art & Activism in Public Space
Launched in September 2021
Edited by Luisa Bravo, Maggie McCormick and Fiona Hillary
Our article #unmaskedselfiesinsolidarity From Digital Artivism to the Collective Care of Social Art in Public Space by Klare Lanson, Marnie Badham and Tammy Wong Hulbert was launched in the special edition of The Journal of Public Space on Art & Activism in Public Space. The article reflected upon the socially engaged project #unmaskedselfiesinsolidarity (2020) as a form of digital activism to support our International Chinese students community, the first international group to be banned from travelling to Australia during the ever-changing conditions of the pandemic. The Journal of Public Space is a research project developed by City Space Architecture, a non-profit organization based in Italy, in partnership with UN-Habitat, the United Nations Human Settlements Programme, based in Kenya and an international, interdisciplinary, academic, open access journal entirely dedicated to public space.
The Chinese Museum, Melbourne & The Australian Embassy Beijing, China
May 2021
Earlier in the year I took part in being interviewed as a Chinese-Australian citizen to express my perspective as part of the community. The Chinese Museum produced this 8 part series of short videos focusing on Chinese-Australians experiences of social life in Australia to give audiences a taste of the diversity of experiences of people with Chinese ancestry in Australia and recognises the on-going deep people to people relationships between Australian and Chinese communities. The series has been released via social media via the Australian Embassy in Beijing over the May-July 2021.
Pedestrian Poetics for Public Space
Mt Corhanwarrabul/Burke's Lookout Reserve, Mt Dandenong
Marnie Badham and Tammy Wong Hulbert
November-December 2020
Corhanwarrabul has long been a place of dance and ceremony, as a site for gatherings of the Wurundjeri people and other Kulin Nation tribes. Curated by Gretel Taylor, Dancing Place: Corhanwarrabul is a program of public performances, walks and workshops in relation to this place, now known as Mt Dandenong. Pedestrian Poetics for Public Space draws on Fluxus methods of creative intervention. Viewers are instructed to use their senses, emotions, imaginations and bodies to interpret the social and cultural histories of the site. At a time of heightened social anxieties, the work encourages viewers to experience the natural world beyond themselves in new ways by interacting with some or all of the seven temporary whimsical ‘traffic signs’ to navigate Corhanwarrabul at Mt Corhanwarrabul/Burkes Lookout Reserve.
RMIT Gallery, RMIT Vietnam, CAST, VICAS and Vietcraft
November 9, 2020
November 9, 2020
This project was developed with RMIT Vietnam and the Vietnam Creativity Festival 2020, to strengthen and build our relationship between our art, craft and design communities and campuses in Melbourne and Hanoi. Skilled Hands, Shared Culture explores the important role art, craft and design practices play in sustaining culture and community in Australia and Vietnam. Vietnamese and Australian designers, artists and crafts people come together in this RMIT Gallery online exhibition highlighting artists whose work contributes to supporting vibrant, sustainable communities. While artists may not necessarily consider themselves agents of social change, the nature of their work has the power to foster a community spirit that creates a sense of belonging and self-worth and deeply impacts communities, economies, and creative expression. Artists – Vietnam: Le Giang, Nguyễn Tấn Phát, Nguyễn Thị Dũng, Nguyễn Văn Lợi, Phạm Thị Ngọc Trâm, Thư Kim Vũ , Văn Ngô Trọng - Artists – Australia: Claire Tracey, Grace Lillian Lee, Lindy de Wijn, Michelle Hamer, Muhubo Salieman, Slow Art Collective (Dylan Martorell & Chaco Kato), Vermin (Lia Tabrah & Perina Drummond), Vicki Couzens, Vipoo Srivilasa, Yu Fang Chi, Kieren Karritpul. Exhibition Creative Teams (Vietnam) Ha Nguyen, Khoi Nguyen, Le Ba Ngoc; (Australia) Monica Do, Tammy Wong Hulbert, Zai Lat Naw, Grace McQuilten, Vinisha Mulani, Thao Nguyen, Helen Rayment, Carlin Stephenson, Evelyn Tsitas.
RMIT Gallery & the School of Art
June 18, 2020
Curated by Helen Rayment & Tammy Wong Hulbert
RMIT Gallery’s inaugural online exhibition The new (ab)normal provides a real-time snapshot of how artists are responding to their new working conditions and circumstances during the COVID-19 global health crisis. The exhibition is presented in partnership with RMIT’s School of Art with creative responses from more than 40 School of Art staff, HDR students, and industry partners. The project honours the value of the work of those who teach and study at RMIT at this time of deep disruption. They have been invited to contribute both written and visual artworks reflecting the impact of their locked down experience. More info
RMIT University, School of Art, Melbourne
March, 2020
#unmaskedselfiesinsolidarity (2020) was a collaborative participatory art project responding to the early stages of the COVID-19 health crisis and associated travel ban on Chinese nationals, impacting on our international Chinese students returning to Australia in 2020. The circumstances highlighted the unseen barriers and complexities transnational individuals continue to face in Australia. The project gave a platform to those affected to express themselves and for our wider community to show empathy and solidarity in this time of global crisis. Through Facebook, Instagram, WeChat and Weibo we collected images which contributed to our Unmasked Selfie Wall in Building 2 and an exhibition in the Rey Area in the School of Art. The project team included students and staff - Isabella Capezio, Marnie Badham, Klare Lansen, Sherry Liu, Wilson Yeung, Jan Sze Wing Ting, Rosina Yuan and Tammy Wong Hulbert. This project was an RMIT School of Art Belonging initiative. In May 2020 an adaption of the work is being presented at The Bowery Theatre by the Curatorial Collective in Life in the time of Corona (Virus) curated by Mara Braun.
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 side 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.
Images at the top:
1. Flavours of Glenroy, (in collaboration with Rowena Booth), detail of artwork, public art intervention, Glenroy, Victoria, 2013-15, photography by Tammy Wong Hulbert
2. Lumens Festival: Curating the Ancient City, co-curated with Shane Hulbert, Clare Leporati & Geoff Hogg, Suzhou, China, 2012, photography by Shane Hulbert
3. Public Sleepers, (in collaboration with artist Shao Xiong Chia), artwork, public art project, Sile, Turkey, 2010, photography by Shao Xiong Chia