In celebration of Lunar New Year in 2025, Adelaide Festival Centre's Moving Image Program is exhibiting "Lanterns" by Tianli Zu and "Black, White and Red All Over" by Alice Lam.
These works will be screening until the 15 February.
Tianli Zu, Lanterns (2025), moving image, 2:55 mins
"The Lanterns (2025) animation is developed from my papercuts. I aim to celebrate the Lunar New Year by embracing the continuity of Asian tradition and culture with Australian experiences.
I retell the stories handed down to me by my grandparents.
In memory of my grandmother, who always made me a new plum blossom jacket for New Year's Day, the animation begins with falling plum blossoms heralding the arrival of the New Year. I shaped the plum blossom's pattern with water, air, and a balanced ecosystem. In Chinese folk culture, plum blossoms represent the good news of spring, good fortune, and peace.Sweeping the house before the New Year is an essential chore. It symbolises sweeping away all the bad luck and welcoming good luck and fortune.
The most enjoyable and significant part of the celebration is when family members come together to make dumplings and share New Year’s Eve dinner, which includes five-spice dishes for prosperity and renewed energy. Receiving red packets (lucky money) from grandparents, parents, aunties, and uncles is the most exciting moment following the reunion dinner. These red packets are filled with blessings. In folk culture, lucky money is believed to ward off evil spirits and bring health and peace. My favourite activities include setting off firecrackers, hitting gongs and drums, and lighting lanterns. According to folklore, using these three magical elements – fire, sound, and light – will keep evil spirits away and prevent disasters. On the lanterns, I incorporated patterns of Australian native Eucalyptus flowers, depicted in motion among symbolic lucky clouds and water elements. The radiant lines symbolise light, prosperity, positive energy, unity, and harmony.
I learned papercutting from my grandmother when I was 6-year-old. Papercut is one of the traditional folk arts in China. Auspicious-themed red papercut appear in every household during festive occasions. In the 1980s, I traveled to rural Shaanxi province where the Chinese culture originated. I papercut with the peasants while learning the folklore and traditional papercutting methods. I have expanded this intangible cultural heritage into contemporary art. Today, I carry these important cultural heritage elements and share them with my children. I recreate my stories to invite everyone from the public to join the celebration." — Tian Li Zu
Alice Lam, Black, White and Red All Over, moving image, 1:39
Redd, born of the Year of the Snake, is looking to pick up all of the red she can find in preparation for Lunar New Year in 2025! A lot of her friends are willing to help out, but how far can a little bit of luck really go?
Alice Lam (she/they) is an Adelaide-based illustrator and animator of Chinese-Vietnamese descent (born during the Year of the Snake, in fact!) Black, White, and Red All Over is part of her attempt to connect more with traditions she's felt distant from or otherwise been unaware of; namely the practice of wearing red during Lunar New Year, depicting a somewhat comedic version of the tradition with a strange bunch of characters...