Degree Show 2023
Ashley Tjang
BA Art and Design
Around the Table is a projection installation of an animation that explores and documents the migration stories I have collected from my grandparents. It shares their journey of finding a sense of belonging in different places where they call ‘home’, and draws connections between time, place, and memory. Since the dining table is an important space for storytelling in my family, the installation setup recreates the scene of a family meal and integrates the subject of food and culture.
Through this project, I hope to encourage the participants to also collect stories from their family and remind them that simple moments of sharing are extremely valuable..
The animation focuses on their migration journey and the personal, social, and political reasons that prompted their relocation, from Indonesia to China, Hong Kong, and Canada. With the tablecloth as a tapestry, reinterpreted traditional textile patterns from each location are combined with subjective cartography to illustrate the stories. The full animation can be viewed on my website and social media.
The tabletop projection invites visitors to sit down around the table to watch and listen to the stories unfold. They take on the role of the listener, whilst I narrate as the storyteller and translate my grandparents’ voices who speak in Cantonese.
Visitors can also interact with the ‘menu’, which functions as an ‘atlas’ and provides context.