The Chinese Restaurant Playground exhibition, featuring the work of artist Steffie Yee, is now on display at Footscray Community Arts.
This solo exhibition showcases diverse art forms, including animations, illustrations, sculptures, archival videos and photographs.
The exhibition includes a striking large paper mache sculpture, which occupies its own room within the gallery.
Yee said she completed a four-month residency at Footscray Community Arts, which provided her with a workspace and professional support in designing her art for the exhibition.
Yee, who holds a bachelor of design and animation from the University of Technology Sydney, brings a unique blend of commercial animation and video editing to her artistic practice.
For the art in this exhibition, Yee said she drew inspiration from her childhood memories of growing up in her parents’ Chinese restaurant in Branxton, New South Wales.
The restaurant is located at the front of her childhood home, so the Yee and her siblings often spent hours there.
“Chinese restaurants have been a part of history for centuries in Australia,” Yee said.
Yee, who lives in Melbourne now, said the exhibition showcases the lives of Chinese restaurant owners and their families beyond their businesses.
“I hope people walk away with a sense of nostalgia. But I also hope the exhibition helps humanise people behind Chinese restaurants,” Yee said.
Looking ahead, Yee plans to tour the Chinese Restaurant Playground exhibition across Australia.
The exhibition is at Footscray Community Arts unitl September 15.
Details: ootscrayarts.com/event/chinese-restaurant-playground/.
Anne Parisianne
