Unleash the Dragon

Kevin Diallo & Zoe Wong

05 - 22 NOVEMBER 2020

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In 1970s New York an uncanny cultural relationship started between Hip-Hop and Kung-Fu. Cheap screenings of Kung-Fu movies became popular among African American audiences, as the films narratives of non-white protagonists fighting against oppressive systems mirrored the racial struggle present within America. 

Kung-Fu influence soon led to the emergence of Blaxploitation movies, which put an emphasis on placing black characters as heroes and subjects of film and television. Beyond the screen, this influence also birthed years of cultural borrowing leading to the Wu Tang Clan’s 1993 Enter The Wu Tang (36 Chambers) (Its title referencing the martial arts film “The 36th Chamber of Shaolin” 1978) and to now Kendrick Lamar’s persona “Kung-Fu Kenny”. This relationship is also reflected on the other end with the rise of Chinese Hip-Hop artists such as the Higher Brothers and Kris Wu, and the rapidly rising popularity of streetwear and basketball in China. 

Its within this niche cross-cultural space that artists Kevin Diallo and Zoe Wong come together. Unleash the Dragon is an installation that hopes to celebrate and critique this cross cultural relationship in terms of its historical context but also its impact on the perception of racial identity. Diallo and Wong invite audiences to question the boundaries between cultural appreciation vs cultural appropriation. 

 
 
 

Tributary Projects is supported by Ainslie + Gorman Arts Centres.

Tributary Projects acknowledges the Traditional Owners and Custodians of the land and waters in which we operate, the Ngunnawal and Ngambri peoples, as well as the Ngarigu people and others who traded on, traveled through, and connected with this country, and continue to do so. We pay our respects to their Ancestors and Elders and acknowledge that sovereignty of these lands was never ceded.