Selected works and accompanying text:

Fruits of your Labour, 2023. Sydney College of the Arts New Contemporaries.

Familial dynamics are often defined by fleeting actions, carrying unspoken meaning with them. However, words are not forgone for a lack of care, but instead, because these domestic actions and labour have the potential to embody this care. The artist reflects on the invisible labour found within their home; from peeling fruit and washing dishes to bathroom haircuts and quiet apologies. Through layered imagery, carved dialogue, and precarious architectural arrangements, the artist reflects on the complicated forms of intergenerational communication found within their Chinese-Australian family.

Fruits of your Labour, Installation, 2023. Sydney College of the Arts New Contemporaries. (Document Photography)

Untitled (Porcelain babies), 2023. Sydney College of the Arts New Contemporaries. (Document Photography)

Do you feel loved? Acrylic on carved wood panel, 120cm x 210cm. 2022. Sydney College of the Arts New Contemporaries.

To my friends and strangers, Acrylic on carved wood panel, 60 x 210cm. 2022. Schaeffer Fine Arts Library: Inaugural Power Institute Artist Residency with Imants Tillers.

To my friends and strangers, Acrylic on carved wood panel, 60 x 210cm. 2022. Schaeffer Fine Arts Library: Inaugural Power Institute Artist Residency with Imants Tillers.

Do you feel loved? Acrylic on carved wood panel, 120cm x 210cm. 2022. Sydney College of the Arts New Contemporaries.

To my friends and strangers, Acrylic on carved wood panel, 60 x 210cm. 2022. Schaeffer Fine Arts Library: Inaugural Power Institute Artist Residency with Imants Tillers.

The intense familiarity of everyday dialogue simultaneously evades our attention and defines our daily interactions. Questions regarding the quality of our day, to vague accusations of selfishness, both outline the implicit dynamics of relationships and the intense intimacy that can be found within them. These contradictory themes of intimacy, mundanity and familiarity are elaborated on in the artist’s investigative paintings. By integrating the imagery of everyday objects and routine with the resolute carving of dialogue, the artist aims to situate the often ‘invisible’ dynamics of the Quotidian within physical space. Through the sparce placement of imagery, the artist presents these mundane moments and objects to the audience, offering them up for contemplation and monumental consideration.

While the text and imagery remains surface level, the weight of the interaction is still implicit within their relation to each other; simultaneously reflecting the often laborious dynamics found in relationships, and consequently transforming the once mundane into the monumental through wood carving.

We’ll See, Installation, 2024. Airspace Projects

Good Omen (Detail), 2024, synthetic polymer paint on canvas, 101 x 73cm

I hope next year is better (Detail), 2024, synthetic polymer paint on canvas, 101 x 73cm

What does a shooting star look like? , 2024, hand carved jelutong, 140cm x 60cm x 20cm

How to acquire good fortune (Detail), 2024, synthetic polymer paint on canvas, 173 x 91.5cm

We’ll See, Exhibition at Airspace Projects. 2024.

“We’ll See” explores the symbols and omens woven into the fabric of modern life—lucky numbers, symbolic animals, and algorithmic affirmations—and how these “everyday oracles” draw from ancient traditions of mysticism. Grounded in my Chinese-Australian heritage, the exhibition reinterprets these symbols through layered paintings and intricate text carvings, offering a reflective glimpse into the daily and contemporary search for meaning and fortune.

The inspiration for this series stems from a recent trip to Hong Kong with my mum to visit my PoPo. Over three beautiful weeks of shared meals, conversation, and time in each other’s company, I noticed rituals and routines imbued with a quiet sense of ‘magic.’ Whether it was eating specific foods to invite prosperity or using talismans for luck, these moments made me think about the small and large ways people seek direction and meaning in their lives, and how such rituals have evolved and shifted in contemporary life.

A labour of love, Hand carved plaster, readymade objects collected from artist’s house, variable. 2022. Exhibited at Verge USU Awards show 2023.

Tablets read from left to right:
家和万事兴 .<A house divided against itself cannot stand>
I don’t care.
不要自私了. <Stop being selfish.>
How am I being selfish?
你應該更體貼點 <you need to be more considerate.>
I don’t want to talk about this.
你要一些水果嗎？<Would you like some fruit?>
ok, thank you.

The seemingly complete mundanity of The Everyday; its characteristic invisibility, its discreet presence and inconspicuous repetition, still offers up the herculean burden and backdrop of Everyday interaction. The joys and tragedies of our daily relationships are presented on a stage of mundanity and the familiarity of daily dialogue. Suddenly, implicit dynamics between individuals are made explicit through the scrutiny of seemingly harmless words, actions and objects.

These contradictory themes of familiarity, meaning, mundanity and the Quotidian are elaborated on in the artist’s plaster and brick sculpture. The precarious display of text, resolutely carved into plaster and balanced on house bricks, aims to uncover the monumental quality of everyday language and interaction. Through a combination of painstaking carving and ready made objects, the artist situates our understanding of routine dialogue into the laborious dynamics between family. Here, we can understand the precarious balance of generational values, familial conflict and language through the similarly precarious display of heavy plaster tablets. Inspired by theorists of the everyday, Henri Lefebvre, Georges Perec and contemporary artists, Destiny Deacon and Timm Ulrichs, the artwork aims to uncover the complexities within found objects, emotional conflict, humour and the Everyday.

However, despite all of the instability, the intergenerational conflict, the implicit anger and frustration, these everyday interactions are still ultimately imbued with a labour of love and intimacy. The final tablet culminates in the all too familiar peace offering in Asian households; “Would you like some fruit?”. Both a representation of the seemingly mundane in everyday dialogue and how our explorations of such dialogue can reveal greater dynamics and meaning.

Constellation/Aggregation show with Blake Bridgewater, installation, 2024. Landslide Gallery.

Text by Ianni Huang

When will I see you again?, carved jelutong and sandstone, 2024.

Text by Ianni Huang

Text by Ianni Huang

Constellation/Aggregation, 2024. Landslide Gallery. Duo show with Blake Bridgewater.

This exhibition aims to explore the concept of ‘mapping’ as a method of understanding space and relationships. Intersecting the practices of Jenny and Blake: a combination of wood carving and sculptural constellations, with digitally rendered installations and video works will be presented.

Through using intricate folds, layered ink and muddled text, my works on paper aim to explore the complexity of family dynamics, heritage and navigating lineage.

Jenny Jia Li van Ratingen

Info

Selected works: ❶ Archive ❷ Text ❸ Upcoming CV.

Selected works: ❶ Archive ❷ Text
❸ Upcoming CV.