All images: Ivy Lee, @ivyleecreative
July 18 - September 16, 2022
Opening event: Friday, July 29, 6-8pm
Opening hours: Monday-Friday, 10am-4pm
Where: The Mill Exhibition Space, 154 Angas St, Kaurna Yarta
Cost: Free
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Disability access is available via our Angas St entrance, access the pedestrian ramp on the corner of Gunson St. The Mill has concrete flooring throughout and a disability toilet. View more in-depth information on our accessibility page.
This SALA The Mill's Showcase space hosts Resilience, a solo exhibition by illustrator and educator Viray Thach.
The exhibition elevates the voices of sexual assault survivors and opens conversations of the commonly misunderstood topic. Viray showcases her skills as a digital illustrator, as well as exploring new techniques developed through her six month studio residency at The Mill. She is the recipient of the 2022 Sponsored Studio a new initiative in co-operation with Mahmood Martin Foundation. The exhibition will be accompanied by a catalogue essay written by The Mill's Writer in Residence Renee Miller.
Presented with support from Mahmood Martin Foundation and Arts SA.
Content warning: This exhibition includes sensitive topics around sexual assault. Please be mindful before attending.
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Resilience creates a safe space for healing. It’s important to create safe spaces for survivors to be able to talk about their experience, without judgement or fear. And to be able to support them. Loved ones can also step into this space and learn how to empathise and learn how to support. It can be hard to know how to support a friend who has been through something, and it’s hard to speak about something that is considered taboo.
While developing the exhibition I’ve been able to have some open conversations. I’ve been at parties and friends have asked me about my exhibition and that has opened up a conversation about sexual assault that might not have otherwise happened. Education is an important aspect of why I am doing this, through the exhibition I am able to provide knowledge of lived experience.
Creating the works has been part of my own healing process. It has been daunting but cathartic and has helped to release some of the shame I was feeling. Part of this has also been the conversation with other survivors, who responded to me with generosity, openness and detail. Survivors shared their stories via an online survey, which meant they could do it at their own pace. Sharing my own story helped to develop trust, I’m glad that I established a relationship with each of them that they felt safe to share. It is a privilege to be able to speak to someone I barely know about something that is sometimes a deep dark secret. It’s an honour to hold that space for them.
The portraits are challenging to do, a lot of my heart and soul goes into the process. But once they’re done it feels like such a service to the survivors. I hope when the subjects see their portraits that they will feel a sense of strength, hope and light, despite the heaviness of the subject. I want to reflect something that they might not see within themselves- the light and positivity, alongside the darkness.
The lino prints were inspired by poetry and metaphor. Symbolism is something that I use a lot in my practice which has grown from training in graphic design and visual communication. The colour palette is simple but effective. Throughout the works I have used black to represent the darkness, contrasted with the shining golden light, which represents beauty despite pain. The works take you on a poetic journey to another world, a peaceful welcoming space.
I want audiences to understand that the survivors have gone through so much, but have been able to overcome obstacles and hurdles, and as a result I want to show their strength. It is a painful type of beauty, but within this exhibition I hold space for both of these things to sit alongside each other.
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Viray Thach is an emerging digital illustrator and educator. Her style, inspired by pop art, art deco and art nouveau, also sees deep-rooted influences from traditional Kbach ornamental designs that pay homage to her Cambodian roots. Viray’s iPad is the digital sketchbook where all the magic happens. Here, she marries the old and the new, using cybernation to recreate time-honoured textures and techniques into tactile designs that evoke a warm, homely compassion.
Formally educated in graphic design, business management and education, Viray is not only dedicated to her role as an illustrator, but as an educator and mentor, cultivating young minds and passing her multi-creative knowledge on to creative visionaries of the next generation. She remains business-minded and efficient while still delivering work full of the heart and soul.
At the root of it, Viray uses her art to tell a story – whether that is through character-rich portraits, lively illustrations, or bringing her mind’s eye to life through magnificent murals.
This exhibition has support from
The Mill’s Visual Arts Studio Residency is presented in cooperation with Mahmood Martin Foundation
