Fired Identity brings together the work of 14 Chinese Canadian artists, united by their shared medium of clay. Spanning a wide spectrum of lived experiences - from multi-generational Canadian roots to diverse diasporic backgrounds - the exhibition features creators ranging from established practitioners to experimental emerging voices.

While Chinese ceramic practice holds a revered place in global art history, it also possesses deep, localized roots in British Columbia, evidenced by 18th-century pottery fragments and the functional wares essential to mid-19th-century Chinese migrants. Against this historical backdrop, the artists in Fired Identity demonstrate the continuing vitality of clay, encompassing everything from traditional forms to highly contemporary sculpture. This diversity is vividly reflected in the vast array of clay bodies, construction methods, and firing techniques employed, with each process leaving a distinct physical trace of individuality.

Crucially, Chinese cultural heritage finds varied expression throughout the exhibition. For some artists, heritage is visible through overt symbolic imagery or traditional patterns; for others, it manifests subtly as a hybridized way of seeing and making that balances Canadian culture with Chinese roots. Clay serves as a shared material field through which these artists navigate intersections of personal identity, bilingual experience, and selective adaptation.

Historically, artists of Chinese heritage have faced institutional barriers, with their work at times limited to spaces more narrowly associated with their cultural heritage. Fired Identity challenges this by offering a broadened view of contemporary ceramics, inviting audiences to engage with formally compelling, materially inventive work shaped by complex histories of culture, migration, and belonging.

Co-curated by Ying-Yueh Chuang and Jean Paull