The Suite (212) Sessions, no. 16 - Zadie Xa

In the wake of the coronavirus epidemic and shutting down of much of the UK's cultural life, we have decided to bring you a series of interviews with contemporary artists, writers, filmmakers and other cultural figures, conducted via Skype (so apologies for the diminished audio quality), about their practices, the political issues that inspire them and the socio-economic conditions that have shaped their work. In the sixteenth of these Sessions, Juliet talks to Korean-Canadian artist Zadie Xa. Born in 1983 and based in London since studying at the Royal College of Art, Xa works in painting, textiles, film and performance, examining her own identity and her lived experience within the Korean diaspora, using water and marine ecologies as metaphors for exploring the unknown. Juliet spoke to Xa about her recent work responding to the Black Lives Matter protests; how she has experienced the Covid-19 lockdown (including a spike in racist attitudes towards east Asians; her performances at the Venice Biennale and Art Night in 2019; and how her work engages with matrilineal heritage, Korean culture and Oriental imagery in western pop culture. A full list of references for the programme, with links, can be found via our Patreon at www.patreon.com/suite212, and are available to $3 subscribers.