In the gallery, Louise Zhang and the team celebrated Mid-Autumn festival, sharing a long tradition of community building and family connection. Over mooncakes cut in quarters, we shared stories of our experiences, some new – some decades old. For Louise, surrounded by her latest exhibition which focussed on untangling the aesthetics of Chinese exoticisation, sharing her cultural experiences was profoundly important.
‘In Australia, I think most people are more aware of Lunar New Year than Mid-Autumn festival, also known as moon festival. So, it’s wonderful to be able to share this experience at the gallery. My memory of moon festival is one of family and moon cakes!
During moon festival, Moon cakes are seen in all the Asian grocers and Haymarket months before the start of the festival. Like many Chinese festivals, they are never just a single day event and gifting these elaborately decorated boxes of moon cakes is joyous tradition. I ensure my parents get the first gifting of the season. My cousins and I started to purposely search for flavours and textures we haven’t tried before to gift each other, and we often end up sharing them.
Over the years, it’s even become a learning journey for both Dylan and me. I've never made moon cakes before, and Dylan has fallen in love with a variety of moon cakes. Last year he even tried making some - It was a mild success...!
It’s a beautiful time where instead of one big evening spent with family and friends, the tradition of gifting moon cakes means we end up having more smaller occasions to see family and friends. The excuse of eating desserts leads to this rich time for community, bonding, and catching up.
And so, the Moon festival is one of the most beautiful festivals from the lunar calendar in my opinion. It marks the start of the harvest, thanking the gods for a bountiful harvest and we can celebrate the full moon through these different forms of love and connection. Love, from the origin story of Chang'e, the moon goddess and the foundation of the festival. Every moon festival, we are blessed with love and happiness.
The best thing about moon festival, even though I grew up celebrating it in Australia, is that I always learn something new about it and share it back with my community.’
From the N.Smith Gallery team, wishing you a happy Mid-Autumn festival!
Queen Mother of the West continues until 5 October.
