In response to COVID-19 racism, Diversity Arts Australia commissioned new developments by 68 Asian artists from all creative practice areas, including visual artists, writing, poetry, performance, screen, audio-visual, music, illustrations, and more.
With our partner 4A, we held the first project exhibition and several events as part of the Acute Actions: responses to I am Not a Virus exhibition (Part 1).
Acute Actions Part 2 opened on Thursday 3 June 2021 and ran until Sunday 4 July 2021. Information about Acute Actions can be found here.
In 2021 we commissioned an additional 10 works by 10 artists in partnership with Inner West Council NSW.
Keep up to date with past and upcoming events through the section below:
News and updates
- 9-25 March 2023 at Thirning Villa, Ashfield, NSW: Rituals of Resistance: Inner West Artists Respond To I Am Not A Virus Exhibition
- I Am Not A Virus Website shortlisted for two web awards – the CSS Design Awards and Awwwards
- December 2021 Reclaiming Narratives: Melbourne artists respond to I Am Not A Virus Exhibition opens at St Albans Community Centre (STACC)
- November 2021 #IAmNotAVirus Showcase: Five screenworks respond to COVID-related racism (event)
- November 2021 Reclaiming Narratives: Melbourne artists respond to I Am Not A Virus Exhibition opens at RMIT Gallery
- November 2021 Reclaiming Narratives: Melbourne artists respond to I Am Not A Virus online launch (event)
- July 2021 Rituals of Resistance: Inner West Artists’ response to I Am Not A Virus opens.
- July 2021 Off The Page: Design, illustration and authorship in contemporary comics (Acute Actions Closing) for Acute Actions: Responses to I Am Not a Virus (Part 2)
- June 2021 Acute Actions: responses to I am Not a Virus exhibition (Part 2) opens.
- May 2021 Panel x Performance // Let’s unpack acute acts (event) for Acute Actions: Responses to I Am Not a Virus (Part 1)
- May 2021 Art, craft, collective solidarity and fandom culture: Sophia Cai (event) for Acute Actions: Responses to I Am Not a Virus (Part 1)
- 2021 Final Slate of Artists Announced for I Am Not a Virus
- 2021 Call-out for Inner-West Sydney based artists. Applications close 15 February 2021
- 2020 Announcement of selected artists for Round 1 national call-out.
Peril Magazine
As part of I Am Not A Virus, Diversity Arts partnered with Asian-Australian literary magazine Peril to commission writing that challenged the xenophobia of the pandemic with powerful counter-narratives and heartfelt truths.
Peril’s special edition features ten written works by Eunice Andrada, Priyanka Bromhead, Matcho Cassidy, Tina Huang, Kelly Huynh, Eric Jiang, Christine Lai, Jacqueline Mohr, Huyen Hac Helen Tran and Tien Tran.
Preview of the new works
Sneak preview of some works:
qi – Amy Zhang + Maggz
Operation Kung Flu – Maria Tran
Laksa – Joe Lui & Deborah Ong
This project is led by Diversity Arts Australia and is a partnership with Asian Australian Alliance, Democracy in Colour, 4A Centre for Contemporary Asian Art with funding from Australia Council for the Arts, Create NSW, City of Sydney, City of Parramatta and Inner West Council.