Framer Framed nominates Sun Chang for YAA award 2024

Sun Chang at the YAA Award 2024. Photo: Hermien Buyse

Framer Framed nominates Sun Chang for YAA award 2024

On 12 September 2024, the award ceremony of the Young Artsupport Amsterdam (YAA) foundation took place at Framer Framed. YAA, which focuses its activities on recently graduated artists, presented awards to seven artists from various disciplines, including Sun Chang in the Fine Arts category. Sun was nominated by Framer Framed in recognition of her contributions as a social artist, independent publisher and educational designer in Amsterdam.

YAA Award 2024 at Framer Framed Photo: Hermien Buyse

Sun Chang’s community-oriented projects explore social structures and assigned social roles, with recognisable themes such as motherhood, parenthood and family. The artist, who has been working in the cultural sector in the Netherlands and beyond since 2014, involves people in her activities who might not usually not visit an art institution. An example of this is the longterm project to M•Others, for which Sun collaborated with Framer Framed at Werkplaats Molenwijk in Amsterdam-Noord.

to M•Others in Molenwijk

to M•Others began in 2020 with Sun’s search for the meaning of motherhood through interviews, discussions and workshops. The project sprouted in the Bijlmer in Amsterdam-Zuidoost and travelled onwards to the Molenwijk neighbourhood in Amsterdam-Noord, where she developed it further in collaboration with Framer Framed. to M•Others is a creative publishing and art education project exploring the ideology of parenthood from the concept of M(Other)ing. The publications are created through a participatory approach in collaboration with M•Others (mothers, parents and caregivers, regardless of gender and social roles) from different backgrounds in order to share their stories with the public. The project also designs pedagogical tools to engage with children and young people in artistic ways. In doing so, the artist demonstrates commitment to community-based work – working in and with the neighbourhood. With this work, Sun Chang questions gender norms and stereotypical ideas about motherhood and family relationships. One example is the alternative Mother’s Day event M•Other’s Day, organised at Werkplaats Molenwijk in 2023.

M•Other’s Day in Werkplaats Molenwijk. Photo: Ania Lenartowska

Sun Chang continued to work in field research on alternative kinship, spending the first four months in the Molenwijk neighbourhood looking for participants by networking with local non-profits and schools. It was during this time that the artist discovered there were never any events geared towards queer people and events for migrants were mostly institutionally imposed and fixed. The core idea was to create an intersectional identity of ‘a queer and migrant community’ in which participants could identify themselves fluidly, as either or both. This prevents institutions from pushing them into a fixed identity, while simultaneously making space for them to freely express themselves and connect.

Sun decided to shift focus from the institutional to the personal and organised the biweekly M•Others Cafe at Werkplaats Molenwijk, where locals could share their experience with alternative kinship anonymously. Sharing personal stories and stimulating the collective imagination about what family practices can be – regardless of gender, age, social roles and family structures – proved to be a successful way to promote social cohesion in the neighbourhood. Together with designer Noam Youngrak Son, Sun organised the workshop Mapping the Currents, Housing for Winds in Molenwijk in April 2024. The workshop served both as a stand-alone queer, pedagogical and participatory work and a preparation for the second edition of the to M•Others publication. to M•Others #2 was presented during the monthly event Queer Open Stage at Framer Framed.

The workshop Mapping the Currents, Housing for Winds in Molenwijk. Photo: Sun Chang

Future plans

The to M•Others project is Sun Chang’s biggest initiative to date. The next step is to create a book and an exhibition; one physical space to unite all the stories, wisdom, research and thoughts behind the publications, which are made with different communities in the Bijlmer, the Molenwijk, Breda and Guangzhou. It will also be a moment to open up the research to other artists, family practitioners and scholars, to further explore the world of M(Other)ing in collaboration.

Sun identifies as a migrant cultural worker who works and moves among cultures. For Sun, culture is situated in the person, the space and the environment, rather than border and authority. The artist’s work is about making cultures meet and connect and creating new views of cultures. As a mediator, facilitator and organiser, Sun’s engagement with local communities – such as in the Molenwijk – combined with a participatory art approach, make the artist a prime candidate for the YAA-Award. Framer Framed looks forward to continuing its collaboration with the award winner.

Presentation of to M•Others #2 during Queer Open Stage: Act 10. Photo: Natasha Boye

Sun Chang (she/they) is the initiator and artistic director of to M•Others (2020-now), a core team member at Travelling Farm Museum of Forgotten Skills for Casco Art Institute (2019 – 2020) and an artist-member in The Basic Activist Kitchen in BAK (2019 – 2020). Sun was an artist in residence at Guangdong Times Museum (2022-2023), Witte Rook (2022), CBK Zuidoost (2021), Werkplaats Molenwijk (2023) and has received talent support from Mondriaan Fund (2022 – 2023).