Ruinscape (Wallpaper), 2020
Karen Tam, Ruinscape (Wallpaper), 2020, screen-printed satin wallpaper, repositionable printed wallpaper, Courtesy of the artist and Galerie Hugues Charbonneau, Montreal. Photo credit: Karen Tam.
Asians have been unjustly blamed for the spread of COVID-19. With this work, stylized like a chinoiserie wallpaper pattern, Karen Tam points out this injustice. The scenes depict stories of racially motivated attacks on Asian individuals throughout history and up to the present, including acts of vandalism in Chinatowns during the coronavirus pandemic. Linking incidents from the past (for instance, Vancouver’s 1907 anti-Asian riots) to the present as well as highlighting the Chinatowns that have disappeared from Canada’s cities, the artist expresses anger and fear. The drawings in this work are based on Tam’s series of Ruinscape Drawings from 2020.
Gallery
Refuse to eat our bitterness, 2021
金山夢 Gold Mountain Dreams (Flag), 2021
Marquis of Lorne Arch, 1882
A good reputation endures forever 流芳百世, 2021
C.S. Wing Studio, 2020
Unidentified Chinese Man Lighting a Cigarette, pre-1929
the chrysanthemum has opened twelve times (Banner), 2020
Le Parc de la Pagode (Montréal), 1978, 2020
the chrysanthemum has opened twelve times (Audio), 2020
Coin-Suit, 2021
Armour Vest for female warrior, 2012
Wood slat and rod body armour, 2012
Ruinscape (Wallpaper), 2020
After the 1907 Chinatown Riots in Vancouver, 2020
Chinese Arch on Pender St. (Vancouver), 1912, 2020
Victoria Chinese Public School, June 5, 2020, 2020
56-58 Elizabeth St., Toronto, 1937, 2020
March 30, 2020 Attack, 2020
Longevity to Our Elders, 2020
Celebration in Nanaimo Chinatown, n.d.
Success to the Revolution, 2021
From Yiwu to you, 2015–present
From Yiwu to you (detail), 2015–present