My friend Azizi Al Majid a.k.a Aji (Instagram account @azizialmajid) introduces me as an environmental artist but I'm not so sure that I can stake that claim. Aji is a smart ass, in a good way, check him out, also happy to make introductions. I feel like the "environmental" is a really important component of art that can be addressed in small ways by inspiring meaningful engagements and by encouraging people to take an interest in our surroundings, perhaps also positive interactions and deep thinking.

At art school (in London) and thereafter I started out making drawings considering the kinds of space it can occupy, as well as performances and installations that were motivated by the idea that drawing is a practice of "thinking out loud", a way of forming ideas into a reality and existing in a moment of emergence from some kind of internal logic. My current drawing practice is more about the weird ways that things in "everyday" life interconnect and effect each other on different levels, emotionally, practically, scientifically etc.

During 2016-2017 I made site responsive multimedia installations in artist residency contexts focused on nature and its function within storytelling and the mindset that forms locality. These projects include "Natural Forces Emotional Measurements" in Bandung Indonesia and "Coastline Paradox" in Wellington, Aotearoa New Zealand. The installation "temple sea feng shui" about my hometown Sai Kung was first shown at Circuit Artist Film and Video's Phantom Topologies 2016.

In 2018 I went back to Indonesia to work with Common Room Networks Foundation in Bandung, learning about the connection between environmental sustainability and Sundanese cultural practices. I worked with gutteral choir Ensemble Tikoro on a recorded reading of the prologue of a traditional narrative prose about the origin of rice written by a member of Kasepuhan Ciptagelar.

Check me out @mind.sette for random insights. Follow my new drawing account @artofanimalattraction est. December 11 2018.

I am currently based in Los Angeles and enjoying its environment! I can be reached via Instagram or email at josettechiang@gmail.com. Thanks!


JOSETTE CHIANG /ART