ARTIST TALK
Where I’m From by Megan Kwan & Jeremy Jude Lee
Saturday, February 24, 2024 from 1 - 3p
Free Event (by donation)
Where I’m From contemplates (be)longing, lineage, and the nature of evolving dreams passed down through generations as (grand)children of immigrants. The collective exhibition, led by Vancouver artists Jeremy Jude Lee and Megan Kwan, includes a site-specific installation, focusing on cinematic imagery in conversation with physical objects and familiar locations specific to their Asian-Canadian experience.
Lee and Kwan’s practice examines self-portraiture—embracing aspects of their cross-cultural identities that they struggled to accept in the past. The photographic work depicts narratives of leisure, tenderness of friendship and the fleeting nature of memory. The installation works are everyday artifacts that represent the resourcefulness, dreams, and sacrifices of generations before. Together, these works create an immersive installation that expresses the mutual influence of Asian culture in a Western world.
The title of the exhibition, Where I’m From, speaks to the concept of home for those who live on the traditional, ancestral, and unceded territories of the Musqueam, Squamish, and Tsleil-Waututh Nations also known as “Vancouver.” Having both been born and raised in the Lower Mainland but still perceived as foreign, Where I’m From, is a homage to the past revisiting familiar places but documented with a renewed perspective while redefining past beliefs of belonging.
The process of creating this series of artworks was deeply collaborative and made possible by the contributions of Jacky Huang, Esther Joh, Rachel Kwan, Ciara Kosai, Sabrina Wong, James Jin, Jason Chu, Long Xi Vlessing, and Xin.
Photographer Jeremy Jude Lee and Creative Director Megan Kwan
