Diyan Achjadi & Brendan Tang: Residue: Tracing the Lore

Diyan Achjadi & Brendan Tang, LT-2, 2015, pigment print on Ilford Smooth Gloss, 30" x 20"

Diyan Achjadi & Brendan Tang, CT-1, 2015, pigment print on Ilford Smooth Gloss, 30" x 20"


Main Gallery
Diyan Achjadi & Brendan Tang: Residue: Tracing the Lore

September 16, 2016 – October 15, 2016

Residue: Tracing the Lore, a collaboration between Brendan Tang and Diyan Achjadi, explores the ways that ornamental motifs can reveal or reflect histories of migration. Through imprinting fragments of images onto their own skin, as well as those of close relatives, this project asks how familial lore and traditions are transmitted, and the residues that they leave upon us.

The process of the making the imprint is intimate and fleeting: a tile is chosen, then strapped on to the body. When the strap is loosened and the tile removed revealing the image, the body immediately readjusts and the skin begins to regain its original shape. The imprints are ephemeral and in flux, lasting mere minutes. They are documented before the pattern loses its crispness. The resulting photographs focus closely on the embossed skin and its imperfections: hair, pores and moles intermingling ornamental fragments.

The works in Residue reflect multiple transferences of imagery, from drawing to object to print to photograph. A series of relief tiles are translated from sketches into 3D-printed tiles that are then blind embossed into skin. The resulting impression is documented through photography, and digitally printed onto paper. Through exploration of these processes, Residue: Tracing The Lore is an investigation into the language of printmaking’s material possibilities, as well as its function as a means for the transference of ideas and images.

Diyan Achjadi’s work examines historical prints and surface ornamentation, tracing narratives of cross-cultural imaginings, influences and contaminations, retranslating and reinterpreting them through drawing, printmaking and animation. She has exhibited nationally and internationally. Achjadi received a BFA from the Cooper Union (New York, NY) and an MFA from Concordia University (Montreal, QC). Born in Jakarta, Indonesia, Achjadi currently resides in Vancouver, BC where she is faculty at Emily Carr University.

Brendan Tang was born in Dublin, Ireland of Trinidadian parents and is a naturalized citizen of Canada. He earned a BFA from the Nova Scotia College of Art and Design and an MFA from the Southern Illinois University of Edwardsville. Tang has lectured at conferences and academic institutions across North America, and his professional practice has also taken him to India, Europe and Japan. Tang has an extensive exhibition record, including the Museum of Fine Art in Boston, the Musée d’art contemporain de Montréal in QC, and Musée Ariana in Geneva.

This exhibition is accompanied by a text by Glen Lowry. Click the  button below to download.