Congee by Ka-yin Kwok | Colour Box Studio

Congee is a video work by artist Ka-Yin Kwok that will feature in Colour Box Studio’s Digital Media Exhibition opening 16 Jan at 6PM.

Description of the work –

Congee (2011) is a single channel video documenting the Sunday lunches I have with my father

Media: Single channel video installation, HDV

Duration: 36’21” Completion: 2011

Congee documents the lunches I have with my father on Sundays. The focus of the work is the conversation between my father and I. Over the course of our Sunday congee lunches, the Kwok family home is undergoing an extension. Meanwhile, I have moved houses with my boyfriend Ben and cat Gogo. The continuity of congee and banal conversation is slowly disrupted by the physical transformation of the room. Congee begins inside the old kitchen, moves into the storm-damaged lounge room and back into the newly built kitchen.

I chat to my father in Cantonese – a dialect that at times I struggle with. Consequently, despite an intimate setting we are at times distant. An undercurrent of unspoken emotional tension and concern for one another simmers beneath the surface and often spills over awkwardly during off-topic chatting in a way that is made clear through the filming process. The transitions between the collated footage in the final work will equally reflect the fractured communication at the kitchen table.

Ka-Yin Kwok BIOGRAPHY

Video artist and filmmaker, Ka-Yin Kwok was born in Sha Tin, Hong Kong in 1979. She moved to Australia in 1984 when her father was offered a job as a chef in a suburban Chinese restaurant.

After graduating with an Honours Degree in Fine Art (Photomedia) at Monash University, Kwok studied documentary filmmaking at the University of Melbourne (formerly Victoria College of the Arts). Kwok’s videos are often autobiographical, drawing from personal experiences as a Chinese-Australian woman and at times featuring her family. Her work explores the relationship with her participants who are a part of her everyday life.

Her video work has featured in galleries and festivals throughout Australia and internationally, including Australian Centre for Photography (Sydney), Careof Centre for Contemporary Art (Milan), Italy and Loop (Barcelona).

Formally a committee member for the Australian Screen Editors Guild, she was also on the committee board for Kings Artist-Run Initiative from 2006 to 2007. Ka-Yin Kwok works in film and television production and currently resides in Melbourne, Australia

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