The Dragon Year (2014)

Kate Beynon
The Dragon Year 2014
synthetic polymer paint on linen
Courtesy of the artist and Sutton Gallery, Melbourne
© Kate Beynon/Copyright Agency, 2020

This painting precedes works from the ‘An-Li’ series and is representative of Beynon’s autobiographical approach to her practice, which merges cultural and personal histories. Here a female warrior stands confidently upon a dragon, the most revered animal in Chinese culture. The subject’s flag features the character for Loong (dragon), also the given name of Beynon’s late maternal grandfather.

The dragon’s tail re-appears in one of the earliest paintings in the ‘An-Li’ series, Acrobats on the Dragon Boat tail. An-Li’s fall from the dragon boat into watery depths is a pivotal moment in the story’s narrative.