​Long Distance Call 長途電話 is a new immersive installation that combines silk painting, animation and a soundscape that samples a single phone call. It is partly a memorial to the international calls between Chan’s mother and late aunt when Chan’s immediate family migrated from Hong Kong to Sydney in the mid-1990s. Expensive at the time, these precious phone calls provided the artist with a rare glimpse into the Weitou dialect and forms of kinship.

An imagined view from her aunt’s grave across an ever-changing Hong Kong is inked across the banners. Experimenting with translation through ChatGPT, Chan has written a lament in the Weitou dialect, which plays in the gallery and is expressed on silk with deconstructed calligraphy and wax resist. Through repetition and degradation, Chan plays with ideas of tradition and authenticity across generations.

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Primavera: Young Australian Artists is the MCA's annual exhibition showcasing the work of Australian artists aged 35 years and under. In its 33rd year, curator Lucy Latella brings together five artists who consider the possibilities of cultural connection in the face of social, political and geographical challenges. Through acts of exchange with family, community and technology, Teresa Busuttil (SA), Chun Yin Rainbow Chan (陳雋然) (VIC), Aidan Hartshorn (ACT), Monica Rani Rudhar (NSW) and Sarah Ujmaia (VIC) question how cultural identities are shaped and held, and how they continue to evolve with each generation.

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READ  "Rainbow Chan: acts of tender intimacy" companion essay by Louisa Lim.​