Islands of Departure 离别之屿

Zalucky Contemporary
March 30 - May 4, 2024

Brubey Hu’s practice is rooted in the spaces her body has inhabited and the memories of those spaces. Born in Xiamen (China), later moving to Vancouver, then to Baltimore, before finally settling in Toronto, Hu’s work is informed by her migratory journey and the feeling of constantly adjusting to new environments. It is this sense of being caught in­­ between two states, never fully settling in just one, that drives Hu to work exclusively with diptychs. Each painting is an image composed in two parts, separated by a space no more­ than 3 inches wide. The painted edges of the canvas cast colourful reflections on the wall that appear to shorten the gap that separates each panel. It is here, in this state of ‘negotiating the divide’, where Hu’s work becomes steeped in metaphor for it is not just a reflection on her transnational identity, but also on her experience of navigating multigenerational, specifically matriarchal, relationships. The painting Leftovers and Euphemism, for example, is a homage to her mother’s kitchen, where daughter, mother, and grandmother have convened to share a meal. The view, abstracted and flattened into an overhead perspective, is of a kitchen counter replete with placemats, dirty dishes, and utensils. The meal may be over, but we can sense that a conversation has just begun. Hu’s careful deconstruction of a seemingly banal domestic space communicates a poetics of painting where inner contemplation gives way to the physical. The scene extends into an intimate study of kinship and belonging, of passing down knowledge and examining the complexities of familial ties. By embracing discomfort and disorientation, the works in Islands of Departure remind us that we may be subjects of histories beyond our control, but it is in the everyday where our most personal identities are formed.

Exhibition text by Juliana Zalucky
Documentations by Em Moor

胡琬芝的创作根植于她身体居住过的空间以及对这些空间的记忆。她出生在厦门，后来搬到温哥华，再到巴尔的摩，现在定居在多伦多。她的作品游走于迁徙与不断的入乡随俗的两种状态之中，却从未在其中一种状态中完全安顿下来，这也构成了她创作双连画的契机。每幅作品都由两块画板组成，中间间隔不超过 3 英寸宽。画布边缘上的颜色在墙上投射出了斑斓反光，缩短了画板之间的间隔。琬芝的作品充满了对这种 "调停分歧 "的状态的隐喻，不仅是对跨越国界的内省与感受，也是在亲缘关系（特别是母系关系）中的反思。例如，画作《残余与委婉》是对她母亲厨房的致敬，女儿、母亲和祖母在那里相聚。画面被抽象化并平铺成俯视视角，是一个摆满餐垫、餐具和脏盘子的厨房柜台。虽然饭局已经结束，但我们可以感觉到对话才刚刚开始。琬芝将看似平庸的家庭空间进行了细致的解构，传达着一种绘画诗学，是内心的沉思让位于身体的表现。这一场景延伸了亲缘关系和归属感、知识的传承和家庭关系复杂性。拥抱着不适和迷失，「离别之屿」中的作品提醒我们，我们虽是无法控制的历史的主体，但正是日常生活中的细节塑造了我们最个人化的身份。

翻译：胡琬芝