Published 09/01/2023
Tsz Kam is an Austin, Texas based artist, exploring gender and cultural identity through art, particularly focusing on surrealist imagery, pattern and decorative art. Kam writes extensively on their work, examining the visual concepts which are interwoven throughout their art.
Kam was born in British colonial Hong Kong in the early 1990s. Kam’s family eventually left Hong Kong, echoing their family history of being political refugees of communist China. Following the move to Texas aged 13, they went on to attend the University of Texas, Austin, graduating in 2015 with a BFA in Studio Art. These experiences allowed Kam to express a unique perspective of observing both American and Sino culture through art. This encapsulates the dual identity as both an insider and an outsider. Alongside this, Kam identifies as a gender non-binary person. The artist therefore uses escapism and nostalgia to create a sense of balance and belonging in life and art.
While studying, they met Nat Power, the art director of local DIY wrestling promotion Party World Rasslin’. The pair later formed the art duo, Big Chicken & Baby Bird. Their collaborative work predominantly focuses on the experience of shifting between girlhood and womanhood, also incorporating the ambiguity of gender. Kam and Power produce paintings, sculptures and installations. They aim to create mythology through the staging of fantasies within a domestic environment. Objects and figures are turned into characters with roles to play in seduction and repulsion within the art created by Big Chicken & Baby Bird. They have been involved in exhibitions including Step into the Water and You Remember Everything at Clamp Light Studios, 2020, and Window to Window: Solid Walls When They Misalign at Elisabet Ney Museum, 2019.
Kam’s piece ‘Black Lion, Black Ribbon’, 2021, explores the symbolism of stars. Kam revealed that each star in the piece has a different context. The smaller stars, for example, represent the Chinese Communist Party, each signifying the four classes of society. They fall under the authority of the prominent golden star. Alternatively, the colour pink, representing Texas, was chosen for the architectural elements. The lion is based on a Cantonese lion dance costume. Kam was particularly struck by the energetic and jittery style of this costume.
‘Silent Witness’s Triumph’, 2020, was initially published as a zine for a show by Big Chicken & Baby Bird. The image illustrates two beasts, a Pegasus and a bovine, as a single figure, inspired by Chinese folk religion. Kam refers to this figure as a mythical icon of hope. This is a work of childhood recollection, Kam was raised in small public housing unit in the Wong Tai Sin district in Hong Kong.
‘Cantonese Cowgirl and her Water Buffalo’, 2020, was inspired by the stories told by Kam’s grandmother, the daughter of a Cantonese merchant who worked in the fields with her family’s water buffalo as a child. Water buffalos are commonly used to farm in south and southeast Asia. Kam used this work to imaginatively explore her family and cultural history. They wrote that the Cantonese cowgirl and her water buffalo ‘roam free in my imagination, and they have always been there to begin with, even before I got here.’
Kam also weaves Greek mythology into their artworks. ‘Zephyrus Gate’, 2020, features the ancient Greek god of the west wind and messenger of Spring. This graphic piece uses dark tones and vibrant shades of purple.
Other works by Kam combine magical elements with motifs of food. ‘Apple Peach’, 2019, merges fruit and foliage with a bold colour palette. Kam incorporates this fantastical imagery throughout various pieces, including ‘Shavings’, 2018, which centers around Kam’s recurrent theme of macaroni.
Click here to view all photographs by Tsz Kam.
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