Yellow Peril   l   Another Project Space Residency, Perth, Australia

Mah is interested in the Buckland Riot; the ideas and the culture surrounding the landscape. The Buckland riot was an anti-Chinese race riot that occurred on 4 July 1857, in the goldfields of the Buckland Valley, Victoria, Australia. There were claims that the riot was inflamed by liquor. During the riot, Chinese miners were beaten and robbed then driven across the Buckland River. At least three Chinese miners died and Chinese encampments including a Joss house were destroyed. Many details of this event have disappeared from the Beechworth Court House.

During this residency, Mah looked at the materials that the Chinese would have brought from China; the alien scents and images that these miners would have come across. Mah re-imagined that day of violence under the influence of alcohol; the imagery distortion and the psychedelic colours.