Mai Nguyen-Long, Warrior Cat with Poo Balls (detail from Warrior Cat + Doba), 2017-2023. Unglazed and glazed clay. Courtesy: the artist and Art Space on the Concourse, Sydney.

A Willoughby City Council curated group exhibition, Inner Edge Drifting explores the cultural space experienced by people living in Western cultures (and specifically Australia) who have Asian roots.

This third cultural space (often referred to within the experiences of Third Culture Kid) can be experienced by people whose upbringing is culturally different from their parents or where their upbringing has traversed across different geographic locations.

The exhibition examines the nuances of such experiences and the culture of navigating across two or more societies or traditions—which can arise from possessing singular migrant cultural roots, or mixed cultural roots. What grows out of cultural navigations is unique and expands on, and critiques the set parameters we have applied to cultural identities.

Those with such experiences may not identify with any established culture, but more with the notion of culture without edges and the fluidity required to undertake such navigations. Similarly, they may connect more with their own interpretation of an existing culture.

Exhibited artists include: Casey Chen, Sai-Wai Foo, Hyun-Hee Lee, Karen Lee, Mylyn Nguyen, Mai Nguyen-Long, NC Qin, Zoe Wong, Wei Rong Wu and Tym Yee.