Guan Wei

Born in 1957 in Beijing China, Guan Wei graduated from the Department of Fine Arts at Beijing Capital University. Guan Wei migrated to Australia shortly after the Tiananmen Square protests and massacre in 1989, as he recognised that the change in government in China would have restrictions on his artistic freedom. While in Australia he undertook multiple artist in residence programs, pursuing his artistic practice becoming part of a new group of avant-garde Chinese-Australian artists that includes the sculptor, Ah Xian.

Guan Wei works across painting, sculpture and installation where he combines his Chinese heritage and Australian influences. He depicts stories about climate change, migration, and identity, often using a soft, light and muted palette to create works that are sometimes haunting and politically charged. In the early 2000s Guan Wei's political concerns began to further influence his practice, with many of his works including reference to refugees in Australia and the global concern of migration and exclusion. [1]

A mysterious land, no. 6, 2007 is one of a series of works Guan Wei produced in response to his time spent on a three week camp in western Arnhem Land working and exchanging ideas with five senior First Nation artists. This was Guan Wei's first experience of remote Australian country after having spent all of his time in coastal Australian cities.

The experience left a profound impression on Guan Wei, stating that he has:

... attempted to combine the essence of both Aboriginal culture and ancient Chinese philosophy using an 'oriental' background and my experience of the Australian land. In this way, it contains a peaceful Australian forest, the yellow land of Darwin, huge ant hills, Australian animals and elongated white clouds, to which I have added a mythological creature, Pan and seal stamps. My intention is to represent the mystery, the sheer beauty of the forest and the great forces of nature that hold us in awe and feed our reveries. Through this work, I want to reveal the disharmonious relationship between nature and us, now living in a highly urbanised world, in order that people might reacquaint themselves with nature, embrace nature, and even return to nature.

A mysterious land, no.6 heralds a new order in Australian landscape painting in which it is impossible for artists to engage with the Australian landscape without acknowledging its intrinsic connection with Aboriginal culture in the past, the present and the future.

[1] Long. M, Guan Wei, Artist Profile, Issue 37, 2017

Australian Curriculum Connections - Civics and Citizenship (Years 7 -10)

Citizenship, diversity and identity

  • How national identity can shape a sense of belonging in Australia’s multicultural society (ACHCK067 )
  • How ideas about and experiences of Australian identity are influenced by global connectedness and mobility (ACHCK081)
Australian Curriculum Connections - History (Year 10)

Migration experiences (1945 – present)

  • The waves of post-World War II migration to Australia, including the influence of significant world events (ACDSEH144)
  • The contribution of migration to Australia’s changing identity as a nation and to its international relationships (ACDSEH147)
  • The impact of changing government policies on Australia’s migration patterns, including abolition of the White Australia Policy, ‘Populate or Perish’ (ACDSEH145)

Rights and Freedoms

  • Background to the struggle of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Peoples for rights and freedoms before 1965, including the 1938 Day of Mourning and the Stolen Generations (ACDSEH104)
  • The significance of the following for the civil rights of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Peoples: 1962 right to vote federally; 1967 Referendum; Reconciliation; Mabo decision; Bringing Them Home Report (the Stolen Generations), the Apology(ACDSEH106)
Australian Curriculum Connections - History (Year 5 & 6)

Knowledge and Understanding

  • The role of a significant individual or group, including First Nations Australians and those who migrated to Australia, in the development of events in an Australian colony (AC9HS5K03)
  • The motivation of people migrating to Australia since Federation and throughout the 20th century, their stories and effects on Australian society, including migrants from the Asia region (AC9HS6K03)
Responding
  • Look closely at A mysterious land, no. 6. Make a list of three things do you first recognise? Now take a closer look. What do you notice next? Compare your observations to other in your class.
    • Make one large list of all the things you can identify. What do these things have in common?
    • What visual clues in the work tell you something about the place that is depicted or the artist who made the work?
    • Describe what is happening in this painting.

We encourage you to look at other works by Guan Wei held in other collection such as the Museum of Contemporary Art.

Compare
  • Compare A mysterious land, no. 6 by Guan Wei's work to that of Ah Xian. How have both artists incorporated their Chinese culture or iconography into their work?
  • In 1989, former Australian prime minister Bob Hawke was brought to tears on television as he described the massacre of pro-democracy protesters in Beijing's Tiananmen Square. During his speech, Hawke offered asylum to 42,000 Chinese nationals in Australia as a result. Guan Wei puts great value on the political freedoms enjoyed by Australians.
    • Investigate the rights and freedoms you have living in Australia. Compare this to other countries that may not be afforded the same freedoms. You might start by looking the voting age of some countries, or whether or not voting is compulsory. Do men and women have equal rights? Are people allowed to peacefully protest?
    • Investigate what democracy is and what it should look like in a contemporary society?