Yang + Shaw: Tales from the Studio

Overview

Based right out of Fortitude Valley's own Artisan, Tales from the Studio is a like a Pandora's box of trinkets or a cabinet of curiosities. Bling is its focus, with artists Xiaohui Yang and Elizabeth Shaw rediscovering and redefining shiny items in their collaborative exhibition.

The duo explore the meanings and purposes that objects of material value have in relation to people. More narrowly, they showcase small objects and jewellery that have had definite influences upon and interactions with people like no other art form.

Yang and Shaw come from very different backgrounds and as artists have divergent styles, but come together in their similar aesthetic. Yang's work is inspired by her observations of Western-Eastern cultural collision, whereas Shaw draws a connection between the symbolic function and practical use of objects. Combined, their work re-imagines and revalues the concept of jewellery and trinkets in our society, honing in on the stories they can both produce and be accessory to.