Tchou’s Sheen-wah-zree (detail)

2017
KAREN TAM
Collection Musée d’art contemporain de Montréal / Collection of the Musée d’art contemporain de Montréal © 2017 Karen Tam

This poster was part of the exhibition Mémoire de l’avenir (2022): an urban poster exhibition representing the works of established and emerging artists. 

This project was born from a desire to create connections between different generations of Quebec artists.

The exhibition, curated by Caroline Douville, was made up of 3 pairs, each comprising an emerging artist and an established artist. These encounters allow us to immerse ourselves in Quebec art, in our everyday lives, and to reflect on the progression of certain themes in today's artistic imagination.             

From July to September 2022, these posters were exhibited in the streets of Montréal · Tiohtià:ke on Publicité Sauvage’s palisades

Karen Tam's Tchou’s Sheen-wah-zree installation consists of a location inspired by souvenir shops or restaurants commonly found in Chinatowns around the world. We can pronounce the title "Tchou chinoiseries", "tchou" meaning nothing more than an onomatopoeia in derision of Chinese languages, often borrowed by the uninitiated. The selected photo offers a view through the four-lobe window of the installation, giving a limited but striking glimpse at the place and the objects in it. With the image of the physical installation not allowing visitors to enter it, we provoke an effect of voyeurism. Playing with the notion of authenticity of the objects that adorn this type of place, Karen mixes found and purchased objects with those she created in papier-mâché. Basically, it questions the representation of Chinese identity through consumption.

Poster dimensions: 24 × 36”. Paper: matte, 189 g/m², acid-free.
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