5 Questions with Pey Chi 佩绮
Pey Qi Chin aka Pey Chi 佩绮 is well renowned for her hand-built ceramics, hand-poked tattoos, digital and analogue drawings and paintings. She has a background in textile design.
Select group exhitions include: Soft Toy City, Rubicon Ari, Melbourne (2018); Cutie Patooties, Platform Arts, Geelong (2018); Lazy Oaf Take A Break, London (2018); Love me, love me, say that you love me, No Vacancy (2019); Sensitive Sweethearts, fortyfivedownstairs, Melbourne (2020); Going Underground, Campbell Arcade Melbourne (2021);
Coast to Coast, Saint Cloche, Sydney (2022).
No.1
I Cut Fruit For You is your first solo exhibition. Can you tell us how it came together?
I have wanted to expand [my practice] into paintings on canvas for a while now, but just hadn’t had the motivation or know-how to do so on my own, so I was looking into residencies. Originally I wanted to create a body of work in Malaysia, at Rimbun Dahan, [which is] an arts centre in Selangor. That didn’t happen as all the spots were filled and my application was [sent in] quite late, but I endeavoured to spend time in my motherland regardless.
[Later,] I saw that Lamington Drive was offering ‘Studio Sessions’ (a residency for emerging artists), so I applied. But I didn’t get it. Instead, a dream email from Lamington Drive came through my inbox on 4 May 2023, offering me an opportunity to have a solo show at their gallery in Collingwood.
I didn’t really start creating any work until after my big ‘Southeast Asia Trip’ because I felt the trip could have a big impact on my ongoing journey into my identity. I went to Malaysia, Singapore, Hong Kong and Bangkok—it was a three month trip with most of my time being spent in Malaysia. I think my brain went through a lot of rewiring … reconnecting … reframing … [The trip made] a huge impact on me as a person, and I think that has flowed through into my creative practice.
[So] I started painting intensely, basically full-time since January, treating it as a little painting intensive course; I dedicated most of my time and energy into painting, and took that time as an opportunity to reflect on my culture. And so came this body of work!
No.2
We’re really proud to have collaborated with you on totes, washi tape and gif stickers in the last several years, especially as you have a very distinct style that is kitschy and cute. It sparks joy, so to speak, as your work often brings out humour and absurdity. What do you remember as your earliest aesthetic sensibilities and interests, and how did it evolve to become what it is now?
My VHS-on-repeat of choice was the 1997 cinematic animated film The Chipmunk Adventure—I was absolutely captivated by the scene where the small Yorkshire terrier pulls off Claude’s sock, and the one where the tiny baby penguin is surrounded by colourful diamonds. I [also] loved Johnson and Friends. I imagine the TV shows that I enjoyed as a child have had a huge impact on my aesthetic and design sensibilities in my creative practice.
Later on, moving into my late teen to early adulthood years, I was more influenced by comic illustration styles, and then when I started my Textile Design degree, that introduced a more vibrant pattern-based influence, as well as my exploration into understanding colour. During that degree I started dabbling in ceramics as well, and I think this brought a three-dimensional character influence that fed back into my work. I think having different creative mediums has worked in my favour as they are constantly feeding back and influencing each other and keeping things fresh.
These days my aesthetics are guided by silliness and lots of colour where possible. It’s maximalism, with a stubborn resistance to following colour palettes.
No.3
Speaking of long-term collaborations, you were one of our earliest interviewees (#21) in 2017. There, you spoke frankly about your life trajectory, as well as the chronic illness—topical steroid withdrawal—that at the time was a fairly new struggle for you. Leah noted that sentimentality and existentialism tends to run through your work, and you agreed, saying that your ‘existentialism is related to chronic illness’, and that you’re ‘always thinking about my future and my imminent death’. Has this worldview changed over the years, and if so, how?
Yes! I still vividly remember Leah coming up to me at the Sticky Zine Fair and asking me if I wanted to be part of her new project. I think I would have only been 23 years old at the time, three years into being freshly chronically ill. I was in the midst of coming to terms with the fragile state of my health, so it makes sense that I was quite existential and thinking about death and future at the time. It was a hard place to be—mentally and physically.
Seven years later, my worldview has changed a lot. I don’t really think about death or my future anymore, nor do I spend too much time thinking about the impact of my chronic illness. I don’t really have long-term career goals either, I think maybe a year ahead at the most. I prefer taking things day by day, figuring out what brings me joy in the moment.
No.4
Your practise is quite DIY in nature, with zines, handpoked tattoos and risographed posters. What is your view of Art World institutions, especially against the backdrop of the current Israeli genocide against Palestinians where it is becoming increasingly evident that zionist funding runs deep in the western art world?
October 7 was my introduction to Israel’s genocide of Palestinians, and the existence of Israel as a genocidal, settler state. I educated myself and learned the truth of what was happening and was astounded by the response—or, lack of response—by Western media and institutions. A lot of those truth findings have been aided by grassroots organising that has been happening on social media.
I don’t know why but I’ve never felt too tied to or inspired by Art World institutions, maybe because they usually aren’t spaces for people like me? Even more so coming from a family background where my parents don’t go to galleries or museums, and who don’t consume beauty or art or thought in those ways.
Being around the art and zine-making community here in Naarm has always shown me the power of community and grassroots collectives. I work out of Schoolhouse Studios, which isn’t beholden to any investors;’ rather it is tenant funded through rent. I’ve been lucky enough to bear witness to beautiful community events being held there, for example Safa El Samad, Dennis Grauel and Zenobia Ahmed holding risograph and embroidery workshops that creates a safe space for people to express their solidarity with Palestine through art; Safa collaborating with Other Goods and Wuurn of Kanak to create a Land Back patch to place on S*k Workwear logos; This Mob holding a banner painting workshop ahead of the Invasion Day rally; and Emina El Samad and Celine Saoud curating and hosting The Great Book Return, a living and growing archive of Palestinian books, artwork and artifacts.
Institutions will continue to fail us, but you know, we are so lucky to have such a beautiful diverse community of people organising in solidarity of Palestine here in Naarm, and I am so lucky that I get to learn and be around the amazing people who are doing beautiful and important work together.
No.5
When do you decide that a project is ‘done’? And how do you define artistic success?
I would say it’s a feeling. Ugh! I’m sorry. Such an artist answer. But it is a feeling, I swear! I can’t pinpoint it. It’s like, if I feel like a painting needs something more, I’ll keep going and add a little more, and then keep going until it feels right. I guess it’s also a lot of self-talk, like, ‘oooo maybe this needs a flower there to balance that [other] side’ or ‘hmmm the background is too dark, I hate it, maybe I’ll change it’ or ‘let’s try some lashes that’ll be cute’. It’s [mostly] about intuition which is a nice feeling!
I define artistic success as creating work that I am personally proud of. A bonus success point [is that] if it has challenged me creatively and if I am making work that I find interesting, exciting and new. I like trying to create things I haven’t really seen before. I Cut Fruit For You is my first-ever solo show, featuring many paintings that have challenged me greatly and that I am very proud of. I am already seeing it as a success—because my creative language and skill has expanded and a solo show is something I’ve never done before and have always aimed for!
Find out more
Born from gestures of love and joy, I Cut Fruit For You is the first solo exhibition by Naarm-based, multidisciplinary artist Pey Chi. Inspired by her cultural curiosity and a need to connect to her Chinese-Malaysian (Hakka and Hokkien) culture, Pey Chi’s colour-filled works are a meditation on nostalgia, sentimentality and her diasporic experience. In her customary kitsch ’n’ cute style, every piece in the exhibition references memories of home and incorporates the humour and absurdity of living between two places.
I Cut Fruit For You includes 29 paintings and ceramics with recurring motifs of flowers, foods, animals and caricatures that journeys her experience through chronic illness and navigating her identities. The work is an invitation to join Pey Chi on her journey between homes, to explore culture, experience colour and celebrate joy.
The exhibition runs from 12 April to 18 May at Lamington Drive. More details here.