art forum VISITING ARTIST: Wei Leng Tay

Through photography, Singaporean artist Wei Leng Tay considers how socio-economics, history, family and the state intersect with notions of displacement and self-identity. She is best known for portraits taken in spaces familiar to her subjects, typically their home or workplace, or a significant place in the city where they live. Tay builds a relationship with her subjects through extensive interviews, some of which are recorded and presented as transcripts or audio installations with her photographs. During her residency at ANU, Tay will produce prints from her current series, The Other Shore, for an exhibition in the Centre on China in the World. This series looks at young Chinese migrants in Hong Kong, who increasingly confront entrenched ideas regarding ‘Mainlanders’. This work brings the conversation away from media stereotypes, and through audio interviews and photography asks how one’s sense of self can be entwined with that of a country, and how a host environment can affect the outlook and life of the individual. Tay’s work is in several public collections, including: the National University of Singapore Museum, National Taiwan Museum of Fine Arts, Fukuoka Asian Art Museum, Kiyosato Museum of Photographic Arts, Japan, and the Hong Kong Heritage Museum. In 2015 she was the recipient of the Poynter Fellowship at the Yale School of Art, and completed a residency with Vasl Artists’ Collective, Karachi.