Olivia Jia

This painting shows a Chinese bronze vessel and is demonstrative of Jia’s interest in institutional museum collections. With this work, she considers the ways in which museums present or endorse certain cultural histories and heritages. Furthermore, the depiction of this vessel comments on ideas of objecthood, and the way that objects end up in museum collections only to be stripped of their function and labeled artefacts. The desaturated, grey colour palette echoes the coldness of certain institutional collections.