Public Talk: Siying Zhou and Pia Johnson

Through an exhibition, a public conversation and a dumpling workshop, Siying Zhou’s ‘To Master Your Mother Tongue’ explores the socio-political position of female Chinese Australians and the cultural identity of female Chinese immigrants.


Please join us on Tuesday 23 October for a conversation between Siying Zhou and Pia Johnson in the Collingwood Library Meeting Room. Pia will present her unique Chinese identity by sharing stories and experiences.


This exhibition is proudly supported by the City of Yarra, through the Small Project Grants Program.

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The installation at Pavement Projects (15 October - 15 November) will displace the stereotypical representation of Chinese women in the context of Australian immigrant life. In the public talk, Pia will present her unique Chinese identity by sharing her own stories and experiences. The notion of being Chinese will then be questioned in the dumpling making workshop where participants will invent dumplings that reference their favourite family food.

By placing female Chinese Australians at the fore, this project examines ‘multiculturalism’, which is so often used to describe contemporary Australian society. It sheds light on the diversity of Chinese cultural identity and Australian cultural identity, and the correlations between them. It also critiques the dominance of White voices in the feminist social movement; and the lack of female representation in the history of Chinese Australians in Victoria. This project seeks to create public avenues that elevate the voices of female Chinese Australians and immigrants.