It is the third year Chrissy Lau has designed the Lunar New Year stamps for Australian Post. The Chinese Australian artist has swapped the traditional Chinese style used in the year of the Ox and the Tiger and instead created three cartoon rabbit gods inspired by “Fu, Lu, Shou” - the three traditional Chinese gods - this year.
Ms Lau says she likes to do in-depth research when she designs. “I will look at the colour. I know that red is a lucky colour in Chinese culture, and golds and yellows represent wealth and fortune,” she said.
Australian Chinese artist Badiucao believes the ‘cute’ style is less controversial. “From the colour to the treasures held in the hands, [the design] is an interesting rendition. I quite like it,” he said.
However, Susan Chen said: “From my personal experience, anything is possible.”
Ms Chen, the Australian Chinese artist, found herself at the centre of controversy during the 2022 Lunar New Year because her design of the installation in Sydney’s Chinatown was considered ‘funeral-like’ and ‘urn-like’ by some local business operators.
Ms Chen defended her artwork as “entirely appropriate” as the dispute kept simmering. The response only garnered further criticism from older Chinese community members.
Badiucao believes folklore or festival needs to consider wider public acceptance.
“If an artist does an exhibition only about him or herself, the public tolerance of breaking the tradition will be quite high. But when [an artist] is creating public art, especially interpreting in some unique culture or custom, I would…cater to the general aesthetics and acceptance,” he said.
Ms Chen agrees that respecting culture is very important, and an artist had to choose between public acceptance and personal expression.
But she said: “I dislike that some people will always find something wrong when [I] have absolutely no intention of upsetting anyone. They will pick it apart.”
“Because it is not meant to be a time to find problems with the world. It is a time to celebrate what we have.”
Chrissy Lau designed the Lunar New Year commemorative stamps for Australian Post for the third consecutive year, hoping to encourage more people to learn about Lunar New Year culture.
“It is difficult to avoid. First of all, we need to have a tolerance to recognise that we are different, and misunderstanding is possible,” he said.
He said that what needs to be distinguished is “…whether the misunderstanding is a deliberate attempt by the artist to create a misunderstanding or an unintentional problem of expression”.
Ms Lau said she used to take her father’s ideas into account when creating. She said her father was “…very superstitious, and also very traditional” but appreciated “…a modern twist” in design. Her father passed away last year, so now she says she would share her artwork with her two children.
“I picked three very traditional Chinese gods … I think there is a place to create a modern interpretation,” she said.
Ms Lau says she hopes her design encourages more people without Asian backgrounds or younger children to learn about Asian culture and Lunar New Year celebrations.
Australia Post has been issuing Lunar New Year stamps, which are always popular with the stamp-collecting community, since 1994.
