Scotty So Queen Of Begonia's & Hai Kot Tou

Image: Scotty So

The Art Gallery of Ballarat is thrilled to present Scotty So: Queen of Begonias & Hai Kot Tou as part of PHOTO2024, a statewide international photography festival. The outdoor exhibition will open on the 23 February 2024 on the gallery’s Art Screen and lightboxes in Alfred Deakin Place, Ballarat.

Scotty So is a Melbourne-based artist who works across media, using painting, photography, sculptures, site-responsive installation, videos and drag performance. Driven by the thrill of camp, he explores the often-contradictory relationship between humour and sincerity within lived experience to offer a glimpse of a future society that embraces difference.

The exhibition features the premiere of a new video work by So where he pays tribute to the Begonia Queens, a feature of Ballarat’s Begonia Festival from 1953 to 1993. The new video work will be complemented by images from his series Hai Kot Tou, exhibited for the first time in Australia.

In this series, the artist is photographed dressed in ripped-off items from high-fashion brands, echoing the head-to-toe monogram trend of the new money in Asia, with matching grocery trolleys, a tribute to his Hong Kong grandmother.

Upcoming Events Submit an Event

April

Sydney: Until 15 May. Scott Perkins new series of expertly crafted landscape photographs and light boxes are located within photography and sculpture disciplines.

May

Melbourne: Opening 4 May 2-4pm. Then open until 25 May. An exhibition of the mature and recent work of photographer / artists who trained at the ground-breaking Prahran CAE, Melbourne in the 1970s and 80s.

June

Adelaide: 7 June – 16 August. Drawn from the National Portrait Gallery collection, this photographic exhibition captures the experience of lives lived through dance.