Sculpting original cultures
by Michèle Nardelli
There
is little doubt UniSA has been visited by one of China’s most valued
artists and teachers.
Professor Yin Xiaofeng has left a lasting legacy of his residency at UniSA in the form of a unique statue produced with the students he was teaching here.
Typical of his work, the sculpture has echoes of imagined pre-imperial Chinese culture – this man on horseback, while jaunty, appears ancient, almost tribal. It continues an important theme in Prof Yin’s works focusing on representations of cultures outside and apart from the modern mainstream.
Director of the Fine Arts College of China’s Northeast Normal University (NENU), Prof Yin is deeply fascinated by original and ancient cultures. He said coming to Australia has provided a special opportunity to explore Australian Indigenous arts.
"I have been absolutely drawn to Aboriginal art and wanted to see as much as possible while I was visiting Australia," Prof Yin said.
"The opportunity to travel to Alice Springs and see more Aboriginal work was invaluable. This art is so important it must be carried on generation after generation. There is a responsibility to carry on the Indigenous perspective in art - it is too important to lose."
Prof Yin said the power of art is in the fact that it has no boundaries.
"I will be teaching my students back in China about Aboriginal art and what it contributes to our universal understanding of art. This is my role as a teacher. I have a responsibility and the opportunity to present Australian history to Chinese students through the lens of Aboriginal art."
He says working with local arts students and lecturers at UniSA was rewarding and, despite language barriers, the residency was highly successful. About six students including undergraduate and graduate diploma students, as well as staff from UniSA’s South Australian School of Art (SASA) worked on the sculpture which now has pride of place on the ground floor of the Kaurna Building.
Prof Yin was one of a handful of Chinese sculptors chosen to contribute works for exhibition at the Beijing Olympics this month.
Professor Yin’s residency has been a high point in the School’s ongoing relationship with NENU. It follows the SASA Works on Paper exhibition in China in 2006 led by Professor Kay Lawrence which was reciprocated by a NENU exhibition here at the SASA Gallery in 2007.
The exchange continued last year with UniSA lecturer Olga Sankey visiting NENU to run a series of printmaking workshops with advanced students and Professor Su from the NENU Painting department visiting in Adelaide.