Ritual Ceng Beng, Phoenix Rises From The Ashes

This unique site-specific installation creates dialogues around identity, migration, society, superstition, familial narratives and solidarity. Through mundane materials, the work is rendered as a moving ‘still-life of soul food.’ It is an offering from culture past to the present, from trauma to healing, to a diverse future of togetherness in our multicultural Australia.

In Ritual Ceng Beng, Jayanto draws inspiration from a family tradition experienced in everyday life – the ritual of offering food made by his mother. As an immigrant artist, his practise blends Eastern and Western mythologies with the reality of current events. Navigating personal racial attacks, gender identity, migration and familial narratives, this installation expands on that everyday ritual of eating and sharing food, creating a place of spiritual gathering that metaphorically and theatrically represents a temple of love.

The meals/artwork serve as a reminder of good times spent with family and friends, and an invitation for people to gather to celebrate love and togetherness.

11th of June |  4-5pm | Solo Performance | Opening Night

Jayanto Tan will present a unique solo performance, sharing a meal with the public and embracing cross-cultural ideas. From the perspective of a working-class migrant, Jayanto uses the context or everyday activities and personal gatherings to approach questions around social hierarchies and the experience of migration. In these acts of sentimental nostalgia, movement, sound and eating, Jayanto invites the viewing audience to taste and feel the authentic mundane culinary tales of his secret family ritual cooking Indomie mie goreng (fried noodles). These acts of sharing and gathering makes public the intimate realm of his personal memories and narratives as a challenge to the future of the Australian landscape.

View exhibition essay here