5 Questions with Christian Thompson
Dr Christian Thompson AO is a Bidjara man of the Kunja Nation from central western Queensland with Chinese-Australian, Anglo-Celtic, Norwegian and Sephardic Jewish heritage.
His practice spans across video, photography, sculpture, performance and sound, evolving through a process of auto – ethnography. While employing various modes of research, he connects his own experience to larger social, political, cultural meanings and understandings.
In 2018 he was awarded an Officer of the Order of Australia for distinguished service to the visual arts as a sculptor, photographer, video and performance artist, and as a role model for young Indigenous artists.
No.1
What prompted New Gold Mountain? Was there a catalysing moment or was this something you’d been wanting to explore for a while?
I feel like all the aspects of my background are coming into full form. It’s an exciting time for me and I know I have my grandmother’s guidance.
There were many uncanny things that happened. One of the works is titled ‘Double Happiness’—[but in the process of finishing the work] I was toying with this title and another title. One day I’m walking along thinking about this and I look down at the ground and there is a flat blue packet of cigarettes perfectly arranged on the ground with the words ’Double Happiness’ emblazoned across the front and I said out loud “You have to be kidding me. OK Nan that’s the title then!”
No.2
In New Gold Mountain, you create art work that reflects your cultural identities (Chinese and Bidjara), the intersections of which is not commonly delved into in the mainstream art world(s). Can you speak to this?
That was part of why I wanted to make this series. My grandmother’s family are part of the first wave of Chinese immigration, [during the] gold rush [which] was called ‘New Gold Mountain’ or ‘Xin Jin Shan’ after the gold rush in California USA. There is such a rich history here and a strong connection between Aboriginal and Chinese people, I wish people knew more about it. Our history in this country is intersectional and diverse, not just the colonial version we are barrelled with all the time in the national narrative.
No.3
What surprises or shocks did you discover while researching the project?
What shocked me is that both of my grandparents were impacted by the White Australia policy but I never knew the extent to which this racist policy impacted my grandmother’s family as well. That hurt, [and] many things began to make more sense, but that probably brought our families together and [for us to] find community in each other.
No.4
What inspired you during the process of making New Gold Mountain?
Memories of my childhood in central western QLD, the Chinese wind chimes my grandmother had in her house, the sound of those chimes with the dry desert heat and breeze are so vivid in my childhood memories. Pictures of my great grandfather who would have been first-generation Australian-born Chinese.
It was my grandmother who used to send me off marching into the desert in central Queensland and she would say “the desert flowers are in bloom!” And off I would go marching into the scrub looking at all the wildflowers; they have pretty much been the defining motif in my work for decades now, that is my grandmother’s influence for sure! She would always say “You’re Chinese as well, don’t forget that!”.
No.5
Your artistic practice is often multi-disciplinary. How do you choose one medium or discipline over another? What do you hope audiences will take out of New Gold Mountain? How have your communities responded to the work?
Often it’s about finding the right medium that best illustrates the conceptual underpinning of the work—it always starts with a concept first. This body of work has really expanded my visual language and the specific and personal cultural references I employ, it’s a journey.
I’m interested to know what it means to audiences because that has always intrigued me. By sharing something of my personal heritage, I hope this can act as a kind of micro into a macro thing where these histories become part of of a broader understanding of what it is to be Australian.
(Above: Christian Thompson (image: provided) / Below: Christian Thompson AO, New Gold Mountain (Xin Jin Shan), 2021, C-type print on Fuji Pearl Metallic Paper, 250 x 250 cm / 120 x 120 cm)
Contemporary Australian Bidjara artist Dr Christian Thompson AO’s latest body of work New Gold Mountain explores his Southern Chinese heritage in greater depth than ever before.
New Gold Mountain draws on the influence of Thompson’s Chinese-Australian grandmother, who is a descendant of the first wave of Chinese migration from the mid-1800s gold rush era. This era is referred to by the Chinese as ‘New Gold Mountain.’ These cultural narratives are interwoven with the artist’s own recent lockdown experiences, and a deep connection with nature inherent in his Bidjara identity and experience.
His inaugural mixed-media exhibition at Yavuz Gallery, Sydney will run from 9 September to 9 October 2021. More here.