Saltbush Emus
Saltbush Emus is a duet of two Australian artists - Karima Baadilla & Siying Zhou
Saltbush Emus is an artist duo comprised of Karima Baadilla and Siying Zhou, both based in Victoria, Australia. While each artist maintains a distinct individual practice—Baadilla works with ceramics and paintings, exploring her mixed Western and Eastern heritage, while Zhou creates mixed-media installations that interrogate Chinese identity in the West—their collaboration merges these perspectives to critically examine identity, gendered social perceptions, and the enduring influence of colonial power structures in Australia and beyond.
As Asian female immigrants, Baadilla and Zhou draw from their lived experiences to interrogate how power structures manifest in material culture. Their work juxtaposes traditional craft—such as Jingdezhen porcelain—with modern Australiana, like mass-produced “stubby coolers,” and mass produced koala soft toys creating hybrid forms that expose entangled histories of trade, migration, and cultural mimicry.
During their residency in Jingdezhen, Saltbush Emus will investigate how porcelain—from 17th-century armorial ware to contemporary Australiana kitsch—reveals cultural assimilation through material replication. Drawing on Homi Bhabha’s theories of mimicry, their project examines Jingdezhen’s dual role as both originator and imitator in global trade, while incorporating a migrant artist’s perspective to critique colonial power structures embedded in craft traditions. The residency will culminate in an installation pairing porcelain "covers" with archival trade documents, alongside a participatory workshop inviting local artisans to imprint personal symbols into clay—fostering dialogue on cultural replication and authenticity
MIGRATION BIRDS RESIDENCY PROJECT PROPOSAL
Porcelain as Postcolonial Mirror: Mimicry from Chinoiserie to Australiana Kitsch
Project Summary
This research interrogates how porcelain—from 17th-century armorial ware to modern Australiana kitsch—reveals cultural assimilation through material replication. Referencing Homi Bhabha’s theories of mimicry, it examines Jingdezhen’s dual role as originator and imitator/simulator in global trade, while incorporating a migrant artist’s lens to critique colonial power structures embedded in craft.
Project Description
We would like to highlight on how porcelain objects bridge ceramic art and postcolonial critique—aligning with Taoxichuan’s contemporary mission. This research interrogates how material replication – from 17th century Chinoiserie to modern Australian kitsch – reveals cultural assumptions and assimilation embedded in cross-cultural craft.
This creative interrogation references the critical thinking about mimicry by Homi Bhabha in the discourse of the colonial and post-colonial power structure. It is a creative response to Porcelain's long history of being a highly valued item circulating in a global commodity. When Europe created Chinoiserie simulating Chinese aesthetics in the 17th century, the Chinese also created armorial porcelain, featuring European aristocratic crests. In the process of studying, coping and imagining the Other, the conventional understanding about culture boundaries and cultural differences have been smudged, and the shifts in the global geopolitical power structure is exposed.
In this interrogation, we will bring Australia into the dialogue between the Chinese porcelain and European porcelain examined from a migrant lens. We will explore the significance of copying and tracing in porcelain production through incorporating australiana objects sold in Australian souvenir shops and the technique of mould making.
Key Questions
How does porcelain replicate and distort cultural identity across histories (e.g., Chinese export ware → European Chinoiserie → Australian kitsch)?
What happens when colonial mimicry is re-mimicked through contemporary interventions (e.g., over-painting, hybrid moulds)?
Methodology
Phase 1: Research
Study Jingdezhen’s Kangxi-era armorial porcelain and famille-rose enamels made for European markets.Analyze Australiana kitsch (stubby coolers, boomerangs, koala figurines) as modern parallels—commodified symbols divorced from context.
Map mimicry chains: e.g., Jingdezhen → Delftware → Australian souvenir shop.
Phase 2: Material Experimentation
Use recycled Australiana objects (coolers, boomerangs) as moulds for porcelain casts.
Collaborate with Jingdezhen’s mould-makers to create hybrid forms (e.g., a Ming vase-shaped beer cooler).
Apply "over-painting" techniques to disrupt original motifs, echoing prior work reclaiming thrift-store paintings.
Phase 3: Production
Create porcelain objects that hybridize:
Chinese export forms + Australian kitsch iconography.
Dutch Delft patterns + Jingdezhen cobalt on koala figurines.
Document process in Taoxichuan’s industrial ruins, linking ceramic shards to discarded kitsch.
Why Jingdezhen?
Access to master mould-makers and kilns to contrast historical/contemporary replication.
Site-specific resonance: Jingdezhen’s legacy as both innovator and imitator in global trade.
Outcomes
A body of work exhibiting at Taoxichuan, bridging ceramic art and postcolonial critique.
A participatory workshop inviting visitors to decorate porcelain with hybrid identities.
Siying Zhou - Selected Works Portfolio
