Bridie Gillman

left: Souvenir: Tropical Fruits of Malaysia 2015, oil on canvas. right: In Thailand I got a girl in every club 2015, oil on canvas board.

Bridie Gillman’s practice is grounded in her experiences of living in Indonesia when she was younger and further experience of being ‘in-between’ places and cultures since. Her work explores ways in which experiences of awkwardness and the ‘unknown’ can be translated through found materials, installation and photography.

Gillman is an emerging artist based in Brisbane, Australia and completed her Bachelor of Fine Art with Honours at Queensland College of Art in 2013. Since graduating she has conducted a residency in Indonesia and exhibited nationally and internationally.

She was in residency at Hotel Penaga from August to October 2015, where she researched the transient space of hotels, tourism and souvenirs in our increasingly globalised and transnational world. Her residency culminated in an exhibition titled Round Island Tour, held at Run Amok Gallery in Georgetown. For more information on her work, visit her website.

left:  Souvenir: Tropical Fruits of Malaysia 2015, oil on canvas. right: In Thailand I got a girl in every club 2015, oil on canvas board.
left: Souvenir: Tropical Fruits of Malaysia 2015, oil on canvas. right: In Thailand I got a girl in every club 2015, oil on canvas board.
Left: Sprite at night 2015, Batik painting. Right: Local Lingo 2015, Set of 6 digitally printed postcards, edition of 100
Left: Sprite at night 2015, Batik painting. Right: Local Lingo 2015, Set of 6 digitally printed postcards, edition of 100.

Kriss Wong

Kriss Wong is a self-taught visual artist from Malaysia. Her artistic expressions are closely related to nature, community and cultural heritage through videography, photography, drawings, poetry and a variety of mediums.

She has worked for non-governmental organizations, written freelance for travel magazines, taught arts to children and worked as visual artist at music festivals such as LUSH Bangkok Music Festival, Culture One International Dance Music Festival, Stone Free Music Festival and so one.

Kriss Wong has participated in numerous artist residency programs such as The Overstay residency program (Bangkok), Penaga Residency at Hotel Penaga (Penang), Yunnan Arts Can Do Residency Program and Shanghai Arts Can Do Residency Program.

Kriss Wong has been involved in community art projects both in Yunnan and Shanghai since 2015, which includes conducting art classes and working on site specific art projects at Longlin Primary School in Yunnan and Jiuqian Centers in Shanghai. Her long-term residency in China is jointly sponsored by Shanghai Jiuqian Volunteer Center and Australia China Art Foundation.

Traveling plays an important part in her artistic expressions because she is very much inspired by new experiences and new encounters through cross-cultural exchanges.

Kriss was a Hotel Penaga resident artist in October 2014. To find out more about her work, visit her website.