Image:
Mimi LEUNG
Interactive drawing mural
on display as part of Facets
ArtSpace at Realm, 2023
5th Jul — 18th Aug 2024
Simpson Gallery
The title of the show refers to both Leung’s relationship with her art practice, and with her children – reflecting on how her attitudes to art and her own practice have changed as she has grown up and had kids.
Leung explains, “Art and drawing have always been central to who I am. My earliest memories are of drawing, sketching and painting. Becoming a mother really challenged the time, energy and brain capacity (!) I had to spend with art. Instead of resisting these changes as I initially did, I began to accept and welcome them into my practice and allowed them to influence the meaning I find in making art.”
Starting with a selection of works from early in her illustration career, this exhibition broadly shows the shift in focus and the artist’s ‘growing up’ – as an artist, as a mother, as a human – and traces her journey from trauma to healing through both commercial and non-commercial work.
The exhibition features an animated poem projection about the complexities of parent-child relationships in multicultural families and intergenerational trauma.
Central to the exhibition is a digital illustration vinyl installation, which Leung explains is “about inviting my children into my work and allowing collaboration between us through art (as in life). Children (and adults!) are invited to colour and doodle, complete patterns etc. on this work, to collaborate on an artwork that grows unpredictably throughout the exhibition but which is anchored by a central image.”
About the Artist
Born in Hong Kong and growing up in England, Mimi studied graphic design at Central St. Martins and later went on to complete an MA in Communication Art and Design at the Royal College of Art in 2007. Now based in Shepparton, north east Victoria, she maintains a prolific practice as a multidisciplinary artist working across drawing, animation and illustration. Her work “explores identity, belonging and using art to understand and transcend the mundanity of daily life.” Mimi’s commercial clients have included Transport For London, Disney Australia, Samsung, Slurpee, and The New York Times.
Supported by Image Science
