(selected by Sally Lai)
Chix Stix (video still), 2004
Amy Cham's work is grounded in issues of social and relational aesthetics, interrogating the boundaries drawn between the artwork, artist and audience. Most recently this has been combined with exploring personal and political issues, particularly in relation to her own identity and experiences. Her continuing project, 'British Born Chinese Lesbian', www.bbclesbian.co.uk (2003 to present) attempts to make visible previously hidden faces and voices from the UK Chinese lesbian community, and seeks to address this imbalance using art as a collaborative process.
In 'Amy Cham Inside Out', Christopher Y Lew frames the background to her work within the realm of literature and cinema, specifically the dramatic moments of urban alienation in Wong Kar Wai's films and the possibility of the amorous chance encounter in Haruki Murakami's novels. (1) Her academic background is in film studies and filmic language permeates earlier, sculptural works such as 'Horror', 2001. This outdoor installation comprised a series of corridors leading to a darkened room, with no light source other than the exit sign and slits carved into the ceiling. Here Cham references cinematic constructions of horror through architectural space, and the willing agreement between filmmaker and audience to scare and be scared.
Lie With Me
Cham's approach is predominantly research-based; her main concern since graduating from the Art as Environment MA programme at MMU (Manchester) has been the application of ideas around social and relational aesthetics to audience-inclusive installations and happenings. Recent video and interactive installations explore urban space and the idea of a transient community, something Cham perceives as 'the connections people can make with each other and how quickly [those connections] can come and go'. Are these transient, fleeting connections a sign of our urban times? 'Lie With Me', 2005, a performance installation made in collaboration with Sophia Hoa, invited participants to lie on a bed and maintain continuous eye contact with a stranger, in the attempt to experience an 'intense, transient connection'. We are sold the idea of finding perfect, enduring connections with others when in reality encounters are so fleeting and intense they are over before they are registered, becoming heightened and obscured through memory; 'Lie With Me' became a physical metaphor for these connections.
Free Fall, her first solo exhibition (Chinese Arts Centre, Manchester, 2004) brought together a collection of photographic and video works which for the first time featured Cham as subject. Turning to video as the most appropriate medium to express issues around her personal identity, Cham enjoyed the liberty video offered to capture ideas as they came to mind in a 'free fall' mode of expression, a counterpoint to her usual research-based methodology. Free Fall included 'Chix Stix', 2004, a video-work exploring Chinese identity on three levels: childhood memories (being beaten with 'chix stix'), British Born Chinese identity (speaking 'broken Chinese' as opposed to the stereotypical 'broken English'), and subverting traditional Chinese values of family and respect; 'Big Brother Audition Queue', 2004, a photographic work, presents Cham holding a sign stating 'Chinese Lesbian' whilst queuing for the third round auditions for Big Brother in Manchester.
Big Sister
Inspired by her Big Brother experience, 'Big Sister', 2004, was the result of a residency at the Chinese Arts Centre, Manchester during 2004. For seven days a Diary Room - a 'quiet space in the urban landscape' - invited members of the public to use the space as a place to talk. Once inside, a warm, disembodied voice greeted the participant with a 'How are you today? Want somebody to talk to? Want somebody to listen? Big Sister is here for you to chat to.' The mute image of the participant was silently broadcast in the tearoom, ensuring their confidentiality. Less than an intimidating confessional, more of a quiet space for self-reflection, the work sought to explore an art that derives from the act of conversation and interaction.
Biography
Born in 1980, Amy Cham studied BA (Hons) Film Studies at the Cumbria Institute of the Arts (1999-2002) and MA Art as Environment at Manchester Metropolitan University (2002-2004). During 2004 she was Artist in Residence at the Chinese Arts Centre, Manchester and exhibited in Freefall (solo), Big Sister (solo), both Chinese Arts Centre, Manchester, and Region, Piccadilly One, Manchester. Video screenings include 'Chix Stix', screened at the Exposures Film Festival, Manchester and Twelve, a Curio Shop collaboration, BBC Big Screen, Manchester.
Other collaborations and projects include 'Conflict in the Northwest', a collaborative project between artists and civil engineers, managed by Dr Andrew Gale (UMIST) and David Haley (MMU), 2003-2004; and 'Amy Cham's Guide on How to Come Out to Your Chinese Mother', published by Cover Magazine (distributed in Hong Kong and Sidney) and by BBC Manchester online, 2004. She lives and works in Manchester.
1. Christopher Y Lew, 'Amy Cham Inside Out', Art Asia Pacific, August 2005, p. 40.
www.bbclesbian.co.uk
www.suite-studiogroup.co.uk
www.chinese-arts-centre.org
July 2006.
