Unleash the Dragon

Kevin Diallo & Zoe Wong

Gallery 4
Opening 06.11.19 6-8pm
Artist Talks 28.11.19 6-7pm

In 1970s New York an uncanny cultural relationship started between Hip-Hop and Kung-Fu. Cheap screenings of Kung-Fu movies became popular among African American audiences, as the films narratives of non-white protagonists fighting against oppressive systems mirrored the racial struggle present within America(1).

Kung-Fu influence soon led to the emergence of Blaxploitation movies, which put an emphasis on placing black characters as heroes and subjects of film and television. Beyond the screen, this influence also birthed years of cultural borrowing leading to the Wu Tang Clan’s 1993 Enter The Wu Tang (36 Chambers) (Its title referencing the martial arts film “The 36th Chamber of Shaolin” 1978) and to now Kendrick Lamar’s persona “Kung-Fu Kenny”. This relationship is also reflected on the other end with the rise of Chinese Hip-Hop artists such as the Higher Brothers and Kris Wu(2), and the rapidly rising popularity of streetwear and basketball in China(3).

Its within this niche cross-cultural space that artists Kevin Diallo and Zoe Wong come together. Unleash the Dragon is an installation that hopes to celebrate and critique this cross cultural relationship in terms of its historical context but also its impact on the perception of racial identity. Diallo and Wong invite audiences to question the boundaries between cultural appreciation vs cultural appropriation.

References

Play, E. (2019). What is it with Hip-Hop and Kung Fu anyway?. [online] Medium. Available at: https://medium.com/@infoextendedplay/what-is-it-with-hip-hop-and-kung-fu-anyway-1034bc6b28a8.

Siu, J. (2018). The Chinese rappers showing the world how cool China is. [online] South China Morning Post. Available at: https://www.scmp.com/culture/music/article/2135393/seven-chinese-hip-hop-acts-whove-leapt-great-firewall-make-china-look.

Saiidi, U. (2018). The NBA is China's most popular sports league. Here's how it happened. [online] CNBC. Available at: https://www.cnbc.com/2018/11/20/the-nba-is-chinas-most-popular-sports-league-heres-how-it-happened.html.

Biography

Zoe Wong is an emerging Sydney based artist. Her practice explores her half Chinese, half Australian heritage as well as her queer identity through photographic appropriation and mixed media installations. Her work illustrates the complexities behind the influence that pop culture has on society’s notions of race and identity and how we perceive ourselves through representation in mass media. Wong describes her practice as a “De-Orientalising” practice in which she works to break down and critique notions of the East presented in a Western context.

Kevin Diallo is a Sydney based artist originally from the Ivory-Coast whose practice suggest Blackness relationship to the future. Rooted in post-colonial discourse and race politics, Diallo’s work investigates how institutionalised ideas of Black and African authenticity can be deconstructed and challenged by means of juxtaposition through a variety of mediums, more particularly with alternative photographic processes, installations, sculptures and new media.

images

Zoe Wong, auspicious hoop, 2019 C-type Photographic Print, 110x110cm

Kevin Diallo, Untitled (mural), 2019, wallpaper, size variable

Zoe Wong, SHAQ FU, 2019, C-type Photographic Print, 60x60cm