Kate Beynon Explained

Kate Beynon is an Australian contemporary artist based in Melbourne.

Early life and education

Beynon was born to a Chinese-Malaysian mother and a Welsh father in Hong Kong. Her family emigrated from Hong Kong in 1974 and settled in Melbourne, Australia. She attended the University of Melbourne in 1989 and graduated from the Victorian College of the Arts in 1993 with a BFA.

Art practice and career

Beynon's work addresses ideas of transcultural life, feminism, and notions of hybridity in today’s world.[1] She is known for her depictions of the Chinese heroine Li Ji, who is situated in a modern context. Through Li Ji, Beynon explores a hybrid Australian existence and a sense of belonging within a mixed and multi-layered identity.[2]

Beynon has participated in-group exhibitions internationally and has held over 25 solo exhibitions. She has also participated in major feminist art shows, including Global Feminisms (2007) and The F Word, Contemporary Feminist Art in Australia (2014). In 1995, Beynon travelled to Beijing to study Mandarin. While she was there, she discovered the story of Li Ji through a Chinese/English language textbook. In 2004, Beynon was awarded with the Professional Development Grant from the Visual arts funds of Australia council for a residency in Harlem, New York. She was also granted the Arts Victoria, International Program in 2012 to exhibit in India. Beynon has been an eight-time Archibald Prize finalist in 2006, 2010, 2011, 2012, 2014, 2016, 2017[3] and 2020.

Beynon is represented by Sutton Gallery in Melbourne, where she has been exhibiting since 1996, and Milani Gallery in Brisbane. Beynon’s work is included in public collections across the world.[4]

Artwork

Having immigrated to Australia at the age of four, Beynon experienced a hybrid world of two cultures. Beynon’s work is centered on her mixed heritage as an Australian with Welsh, English, Chinese, Malaysian, and Norwegian ancestry. Her art’s narratives are inspired by ancient Chinese myths, which she adapts and situates in the modern world.[5] At the start of her career, she experimented with Chinese calligraphy, questioning the notions of race and culture within her own family. Beynon also implements Eastern (manga) and Western comic book styles as a visual genre, and modern graffiti. Her interest in writing as an art form stems from her grandfather, who was a calligrapher and the last person in her family to read and write Chinese. Her first work, "the foolish old man moves the mountain", is a story taken from her grandfather’s book.[6]

Li Ji

Starting from 1996, Beynon’s work revolved around a fictional character named Li Ji. The character is a heroine adapted from Chinese mythology, who has been transformed to examine hybridity and race.[7] The myth itself is an ancient Chinese story written by Gan Bao, who recorded extraordinary feats imitating historical writing under the “strange tales” genre. The original story revolves around a young Chinese girl who steps out of her traditional, cultural role and saves her village by slaying a giant python.[8] The art critic Maura Reilly states that through Li Ji, Beynon confronts issues about multiculturalism and immigration in contemporary Australian society.[9] Beynon’s work also tackles the modern issues of race and identity. In Where is Your Original Home (a video of Li-Ji journeying across a modern Melbourne Chinatown), Beynon explores the question asked to many non-Anglo Australians: where are you from? She deconstructs how a conversational question can turn hostile caused by the underlying assumptions about belonging.[10]

Beynon is also inspired by her personal experiences in other cultures. During her residency in Harlem, Beynon drew from the neighbourhood’s styles and tastes and implemented them into her depictions of Li Ji (i.e. African hair braiding.) This transformation of Li Ji reflects her fluid, hybrid identity. Through this representation of Li Ji, Beynon explores issues of cultural identity and perceptions of race.[10]

Recognition and awards

Exhibitions

Solo

Group

Collections

Notes and References

  1. Katrina Raymond and Emily Smith, An-Li: A Chinese Ghost Tale. (Tarrawarra Museum of Art, 2015)
  2. Sutton Gallery, Artist Profile: Kate Beynon. (Sutton Gallery, 2016)
  3. Katrina Raymond and Emily Smith, An-Li: A Chinese Ghost Tale. (Tarrawarra Museum of Art, 2015)
  4. Anna, Edmundson, Kate Beynon’s where is your original home? (Australia National University Press, 2009.)
  5. Brooklyn Museum, Global Feminisms: Kate Beynon (Youtube video, April 2010)
  6. Ashley Crawford, Exploring the passionate hybrid world of Li Ji (The Age, 2004)
  7. Raymond and Smith, An-Li: A Chinese Ghost Tale
  8. Deborah Hart, Tales of the Unexpected (National Gallery of Australia, 2002)
  9. Reilly, Maura, Curating Transnational Feminisms (Feminist Studies, 2010) p.170
  10. Edmundson, where is your original home?
  11. Web site: 2018-01-30 . $30,000 painting prize now open . 2022-03-12 . ArtsHub Australia . en-AU.
  12. Web site: 2020 . Kate Beynon-CV . Sutton Gallery.
  13. Web site: Kate Beynon - CV . 2024-02-19 . Artsy . en.
  14. Web site: Kate Beynon . 2024-02-19 . Sutton Gallery . en-US.

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