Embrace

Affection is shown differently across cultures. In ‘Embrace’, Cyrus Tang explores the act of hugging within the Chinese cultural context. With its legacy of Confucianism, the physical embrace is seen as awkward or discomforting in China, though this is changing with younger generations.

In ‘Embrace’, Tang turns the common Australian greeting into a powerful ritual between herself and her family. The exhibition is a complex exploration of intimacy and affection that characterises many migrant experiences.

Tang says, ‘This project is not only to embrace my family, but also to make a work of art in which my awareness of personal and social space during my life in Australia and its openness to interaction is brought into confrontation with my Chinese sensibility and familial habits of impassive, remote encounters.’

This project has been assisted by the Australian Government through Creative Australia, its principal arts investment and advisory body.