The people have spoken. Belinda Hanrahan, Director of Hazelhurst Regional Gallery & Arts Centre announced Kasane Lo and her work lotus lotus (red) (2017) as the winner of the $1,000 winner of the People’s Choice category of the 2017 Hazelhurst Art on Paper Award.
Kasane Lo, lotus lotus (red), 2017, Joss paper, red thread, one sheet of beeswax. Courtesy the artist and Hazelhurst Regional Gallery & Arts Centre, Sydney
Lo’s work often deals with ideas of identity and being Asian-Australian;
“Throughout my work I use the symbol of the lotus flower to represent self and because my name ‘kasane’ means many folds of a lotus flower. Here I have used the lotus flower to be a symbol of birth and have folded these with ‘death paper,’ joss paper, used traditionally in Chinese culture as offerings to burn for the dead. Therefore within the making of the origami flowers are folded symbols of birth and death.
The lotus lotus installation aims to reveal the interconnection we share with the world. Too often in this modern world we see ourselves as separate entities and we forget that we are part of a much greater reality. It is a matter of perception. It’s physics: you, me, we are all part of the same quantum field, and the universe is just one Big field of molecules bumping up against one another, interacting, connecting, exchanging. In this work with one simple movement of our body we can see how the effect of this movement ripples through a field of origami flowers. And so we can understand how our movements in the world are part of a much greater web of interconnections that always have a cause and reaction.”
The coveted national art prize showcases outstanding art created with, on, or about paper. This year more than 500 people voted for their favourite work from 76 finalists where Brian Robinson was announced as the $15,000 winner of the Hazelhurst Art on Paper Award for his work entitled Land Sea Sky Charting our place in the universe (2016).
Hazelhurst Regional Gallery & Arts Centre
Until 16 July, 2017
Sydney
