Adelaide's OzAsia Festival 2022: Tianli Zu's free exhibits

The installation Gate of Grace, by Chinese-Australian artist Tianli Zu, will be part of the entrance to the festival's Moon Lantern Trail.

Tianli is a Beijing born-and-raised Sydney resident and prolific artist, whose work explores the relationships between light and shadow and is particularly well known for her paper cutting. It is the first time she will be participating at OzAsia.

On 'The Gate', she installed pink adhesive vinyl on clear acrylic panels, then hand cut negative shapes and peeled them off to reveal positive shapes that are inspired by nature, such as the sun, moon, water, plants and fruits. LEDs have been installed and at night, they are programmed to illuminate rhythmically. Meanwhile, sounds will play as people walk through it.

'The Gate' has 10 surfaces totalling 27 square metres and features hand-cut images of different 'natural elements' such as wattle, eucalyptus and banksia from Australia, and peaches, pomegranate and mandarins in Asia. Together, they are meant to encourage visitors to think about what these 'natural elements' culturally represent to each region. For example, peaches symbolise longevity, pomegranates symbolise fertility, buddha hand fruit symbolise prosperity, and mandarins symbolise sharing abundance and happiness.

"Gate of Grace signifies the essence of life, the harmonious relationship with nature, sharing with others, social grace, empowerment, energy, and awareness," Tianli said.

"Australian native flowers such as wattles, Banksia, Eucalyptus, all have a round shape. The circles represent Asian aesthetics and stand for fulfilment and oneness. Although there are opposing forces - Yin and Yang - these forces form a circle. The cutout and solid together create a whole. Symbolic Asian fruits such as pomegranates, Buddhas hand, peaches and mandarin also have round shapes. They echo the full Moon at night."

It's not the only work she will be exhibiting at OzAsia; she is also presenting A New World on Earth - a video animation created from papercuts, featuring a soundtrack by Andrew Zhou, and will be presented on screens at the Adelaide Festival Centre.

"It comprises a metaphorical procession with 10 phases of transformation between mysterious shadow and peculiar light intertwined with contradictions, growth, overgrowth, decline, rebirth, the cosmos, and microorganisms," Tianli said.

"They are interconnected and in constant change. The video starts with a mythical beetle which symbolises regeneration, and the symbol of the sun bringing light to Earth. It ends with a multi-focused flower dance returning into the darkness of the inner body of the Earth."

Tianli is a multi award-winning mixed media artist who has presented works around the world. Paper cutting is among the formats she has produced a great portion of her work with.

Tianli was six years old her grandmother introduced paper cutting to her. Although Chinese traditions were banned during the cultural revolution, Tianli's grandmother would secretly cut good fortune motifs to decorate the family home, particularly for festivities including New Year, the Lantern Festival, the Moon Festival and Dragon Boat Festival, as well as weddings and newborn baby celebrations.

"Grandma brought warmth, happiness, nourishment and energy to us. Today, I am sharing this tradition with my children and extend this private act to public to share with everyone," Tianli said.

Tianli learned more about the art in the 1980s, when she spent several months in Shaanxi, a rural province located in northern China, adjacent to the Yellow River - the birthplace of ancient Chinese culture.

"I observed ancient traditions and customs, one of which was papercutting. The activity was usually undertaken by the village women, who gathered together and cut red paper into patterns of good fortune in preparation for Chinese New Year," she said.

"Paper cutting to me is drawing with a knife and painting with scissors. I create art intuitively without any template.

"I love the freedom. I extend this tradition to large-scale papercuts by hand that weave through history and the present, using shadow and light in powerful dynamic installations. My work captures experiences of places and cultures through intuitive and metaphysical means. I also create animation to make paperless for sustainability and timeless work."

Today, she can still see papercutting as a way of facilitating conversation.

"Paper cutting is one of my ways to express things cannot be said in any other way. I communicate with others through the cutouts. Every cut sheds some light," she said.

Held annually over three weeks in spring, OzAsia Festival showcases the best theatre, dance, music, visual arts, literature, food and cultural events from across Asia. Its program has included artists from around the world, including countries such as Japan, Korea, China, Cambodia, Afghanistan, Denmark, India, Indonesia, Iran, Latvia, Malaysia, Singapore, Syria, the United States, Israel, Thailand, the United Kingdom, France, The Philippines and Australia.

Taking place from October 20-November 6, this year's festival has more than 500 community, national and international artists from about eight countries, and includes 10 world premieres, one Australian premiere and seven Adelaide premieres, across 50 ticketed and free events and exhibitions.

Family audiences love OzAsia Festival's Moon Lantern Trail - a free, colourful, four day, outdoor event. This year's trail, at Pinky Flat, will have more than a dozen giant handcrafted lanterns, including four brand-new lanterns and the popular 40-metre-long Hong Kong Dragon. Across the River Torrens at Elder Park, foodies will flock to the Lucky Dumpling Market - the vibrant and ever-popular OzAsia Festival hub offering delicious food inspired by Asian cuisine, bars, and free entertainment throughout the festival.

The full program can be seen at www.ozasiafestival.com.au

Phone 08-8216-8600 for more information.