Fan(Yvonne) Zhao (She/Her)
BIOGRAPHY
Fan Zhao is a curator and sculptor currently working on a Master’s in Curatorial Practice at the Glasgow School of Art. She is based in Guangzhou, China. She holds a Bachelor’s degree and an ongoing Master’s in Fine Arts in Sculpture from Guangzhou Academic of Fine Art. Her previous project includes Work To Play (2022), a group collaboration exploring artists’ artistic output in both their professional work and leisure time, with publication as an outcome. Also, she has undertaken a five-month placement at The ATLAS ART, Isle of Skye, exploring the manifestations of hospitality in curation work.
Fan’s practice shows concern about cultural identity and site response. With a focus on collaborative, socially engaging artworks, she navigates the complexities of belonging and displacement through the lens of anthropology and hospitality. Fan weaves personal narrative, cultural exploration, and collaboration through her practice, inviting viewers to delve into the rich tapestry of cultural identity.
CURATORIAL STATEMENT
My recent curatorial pursuits have been centred around preserving community spiritual heritage, achieved through the lens of hospitality and visualising oral histories. Guided by my personal background as an artist, I am deeply passionate about creatively facilitating and transporting artistic experiences. My curatorial practice takes on an experimental approach, using warmth and hospitality as instrumental tools for engaging with weighty themes. By intricately intertwining community engagement with narrative, I embrace the multifaceted intersections of various artistic disciplines.
Positioned at the convergence of ethnography and hospitality, my work serves as a platform for exploring oral history and delving into cultural identity. Both areas of study provide space for storytelling and inheriting knowledge, both of which are at the heart of my practice. This fusion embodies the essence of my curatorial practice, with an emphasis on nurturing emotional resonance and fostering connections among artists, curators, participants, and audiences. For her, the most important aspect is the construction and mastery of curatorial methodologies, where the community and the audience can be interchangeable. Incorporating participatory and hospitality elements further enhances and enriches the overall curatorial methodology.
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[post_content] => THE NEW SCOTS COOKBOOK is about Recipes Sharing and cultural exchange with the Wednesday Women’s Group of Milk Cafe.
The project focuses on the living situations of a small group of female New Scots of Milk Cafe via the lens of food, life Journeys and culture through hospitality.
With a series of creative workshops, the curator seeks to foster understanding and cultural appreciation by engaging the Wednesday Women's Group in collaborative recipe sharing, food preparation, communal dining experiences, and oral history telling.
PROJECT PROPOSAL AND PREMISE
-Amended June 20, 2023
New Scots referred to the immigrant and refugee populations that had settled in Scotland. They came from different countries, representing diverse nationalities, cultures, languages, and religious backgrounds. This diversity raised interesting and complex questions regarding cultural perspectives. The project focuses on the living situations of a small group of female New Scots of Milk Cafe via the lens of food, life Journeys and culture through hospitality.
The project explored how these women established their identities between their immigrant backgrounds and Scottish culture. It sought to understand how they maintained connections with their original cultures while integrating into Scottish society. Additionally, it delved into how they blended their cultural values and traditions with the Scottish community, creating new forms of cultural expression.
With a series of creative workshops, the curator seeks to foster understanding and cultural appreciation by engaging the Wednesday Women's Group in collaborative recipe sharing, food preparation, communal dining experiences, and oral history telling. The project aimed to showcase a corner of New Scots' lives through food, cultural dialogue, community interaction, and integration, opening the topic for discussion.
WORK METHOD
In the project, the observation research method of ethnography was used as the underlying lens to explore the interplay between individuals and different cultural attributes. Hospitality served as a tentacle, highlighting an individual's cultural attributes in a space and their influence on the overall cultural composition of that space. With participatory and communication-based practice methods, concepts such as costumes, experiences, languages, thoughts, and emotions played crucial roles in the research.
Searching and exploring our inner cultural belongings provided the impetus to reconstruct community walls. People became intertwined, revealing new interconnected slices of urban migration. This approach aligned with feelings of fear, confusion, loss, and loneliness, which were eased and comforted through hospitality. It embodied differences within the common and found commonalities within differences, contributing to peace and dissolution. Food and sharing food connected people and helped build new communities. Participants gained insights into the stories, traditions, and experiences that shaped immigrant identities and cultural fusion.
The project culminated in public catering, where audiences came together to taste the diverse dough recipes shared during the workshops. These gatherings fostered dialogue, cultural exchange, and the celebration of immigrant contributions to the culinary landscape of New Scots.
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THE NEW SCOTS COOKBOOK: Recipes Sharing and cultural exchange with the Wednesday Women’s Group of Milk Cafe
THE NEW SCOTS COOKBOOK is about Recipes Sharing and cultural exchange with the Wednesday Women’s Group of Milk Cafe.
The project focuses on the living situations of a small group of female New Scots of Milk Cafe via the lens of food, life Journeys and culture through hospitality.
With a series of creative workshops, the curator seeks to foster understanding and cultural appreciation by engaging the Wednesday Women’s Group in collaborative recipe sharing, food preparation, communal dining experiences, and oral history telling.
PROJECT PROPOSAL AND PREMISE
-Amended June 20, 2023
New Scots referred to the immigrant and refugee populations that had settled in Scotland. They came from different countries, representing diverse nationalities, cultures, languages, and religious backgrounds. This diversity raised interesting and complex questions regarding cultural perspectives. The project focuses on the living situations of a small group of female New Scots of Milk Cafe via the lens of food, life Journeys and culture through hospitality.
The project explored how these women established their identities between their immigrant backgrounds and Scottish culture. It sought to understand how they maintained connections with their original cultures while integrating into Scottish society. Additionally, it delved into how they blended their cultural values and traditions with the Scottish community, creating new forms of cultural expression.
With a series of creative workshops, the curator seeks to foster understanding and cultural appreciation by engaging the Wednesday Women’s Group in collaborative recipe sharing, food preparation, communal dining experiences, and oral history telling. The project aimed to showcase a corner of New Scots’ lives through food, cultural dialogue, community interaction, and integration, opening the topic for discussion.
WORK METHOD
In the project, the observation research method of ethnography was used as the underlying lens to explore the interplay between individuals and different cultural attributes. Hospitality served as a tentacle, highlighting an individual’s cultural attributes in a space and their influence on the overall cultural composition of that space. With participatory and communication-based practice methods, concepts such as costumes, experiences, languages, thoughts, and emotions played crucial roles in the research.
Searching and exploring our inner cultural belongings provided the impetus to reconstruct community walls. People became intertwined, revealing new interconnected slices of urban migration. This approach aligned with feelings of fear, confusion, loss, and loneliness, which were eased and comforted through hospitality. It embodied differences within the common and found commonalities within differences, contributing to peace and dissolution. Food and sharing food connected people and helped build new communities. Participants gained insights into the stories, traditions, and experiences that shaped immigrant identities and cultural fusion.
The project culminated in public catering, where audiences came together to taste the diverse dough recipes shared during the workshops. These gatherings fostered dialogue, cultural exchange, and the celebration of immigrant contributions to the culinary landscape of New Scots.
