Chun Yin Rainbow Chan (陳雋然) is an interdisciplinary artist, vocalist and multi-instrumentalist based in Naarm/Melbourne and Gadigal/Sydney. Working fluidly across contemporary visual art and popular music, her practice examines themes of cultural representation, (mis)translation, matrilineal inheritance, feminist expression, and diasporic identity. Grounded in her ancestral ties to the Weitou people — Hong Kong’s first settlers — Chan’s work revitalises endangered women’s folk traditions, most notably bridal laments, reinterpreting them through immersive installations, silk painting, traditional weaving, sound, and performance, for contemporary audiences.
Chan holds a Bachelor of Arts (Honours) from the University of Sydney and a Master of Fine Arts (Research) from the University of NSW. As a highly acclaimed visual artist and musician, she has exhibited and performed widely across Australia and internationally at art institutions and festivals, including the Sydney Opera House, Phoenix Central Park, Carriageworks, Melbourne Music Week, Iceland Airwaves, National Taiwan Museum of Fine Arts, Tai Kwun Contemporary, M+ in Hong Kong, SXSW, 4A Centre for Contemporary Asian Art, Firstdraft, Art Gallery of NSW, Cement Fondu, Blindside, Queensland University Art Museum, Australian National University, and I-Project Space in Beijing.
Chan’s work has garnered significant recognition through major commissions and presentations. She is the inaugural artist behind ABC Bullion’s Arts Series Coin Program (2026). In 2024 she was commissioned by both the Yokohama Triennale (Japan) and the Museum of Contemporary Art Australia for Primavera: Young Australian Artists. Her installation “Fruit Song” is in the Art Gallery of New South Wales collection.
Her music is celebrated for its innovative fusion of experimental pop, electronic production, and traditional Cantonese influences, positioning her as one of Australia’s most distinctive voices in contemporary sound. Her releases Spacings (2016), Pillar (2019), and Stanley (2021), have earned critical praise from outlets such as The Guardian, Rolling Stone Australia, and ABC. Her documentary Songs from a Walled Village (ABC Radio National, 2021), was a finalist in the Asia-Pacific Broadcasting Union Prizes. Chan won "Artist of the Year" at the 2022 FBi Radio SMAC Awards and was named among the "40 Under 40: Most Influential Asian Australians" for her contributions to arts and culture.
Her one-woman performance The Bridal Lament—a reimagining of Weitou wedding rituals through song, movement, and animation—has been presented at Arts House, OzAsia, Liveworks, and Riverside Theatres as part of Sydney Festival. The work was co-commissioned by Performance Space as part of Liveworks Festival 2023 and OzAsia Festival 2023, with support from Carriageworks, the City of Melbourne through Arts House and Contemporary Asian Australian Performance.
Through her interdisciplinary practice, Chan continues to illuminate the voices of Weitou women, preserving and reinterpreting their stories while exploring broader questions of identity, language, and cultural inheritance.
Solo & Group Exhibitions
– Radical Joy, Sydney Contemporary, MARS Gallery, 2026
– Continuum, MARS Gallery, 2026
– Inaugural Artist, Pallion Arts Group and ABC Bullion Art Series Coin Program, 2025
– Group Exhibition: And Still I Rise, curated by Dr. Natalie Seiz, Art Gallery of New South Wales, Sydney 2025
– “Notations: Red Scale” Solo exhibition, Western Sydney University, Institute for Australian and Asian Arts and Culture, 2025
– Primavera: Young Australia Artists, MCA, Sydney, 2024
– Retellings (Revisions): Rainbow Chan x Sin Wai Kin, Cement Fondu, Paddington, Sydney, 2024
– Group Exhibition: Language Exchange, curated by Amy Prcevich, Fairfield CIty Museum & Gallery, 2024
– Group Exhibition: Assembly, curated by Dr. Olivier Krischer, CIW Gallery, Australian National University, 2024
– “Fruit Song No. 2” in Wild Grass: 8th Yokohama Triennale, Yokohama Chinatown, Japan, 2024
– “The Novice, fry and fledging” as part of “Mare Amoris | Sea of Love”, University of Queensland Art Museum, Queensland, 2023
– “As Far Away As Heaven From Earth”, solo exhibition, Blindside Gallery, Victoria, 2023
– “Fruit Song”, NSW Visual Arts Emerging Fellowship, NAS Gallery, presented by Artspace, Create NSW and National Art School, 2022
– “Fish Song, Bird Song” Artspace “52 Artists 52 Actions" Touring Exhibition, Nationwide, 2022
– “Sap” in BLEED, Campbelltown Arts Centre, 2022
– “Soup,” An immersive audio-visual installation in collaboration with Carla Zimbler, Vivid Live, 2022
– “Triune” in “A link, a loop, a circle,” Group show, curated by Talia Smith, Granville Centre Art Gallery, 2021
– “Silent Dialogue,” Group show, co-curated by Echo Cai and Emma Thomson, Ballarat, Victoria, 2021
– “Do I have to spell it out for you” Group show, Town Hall Gallery, Hawthorn, Victoria, 2021
– “Fish Song, Bird Song” in 52 ARTISTS 52 ACTIONS, Artspace, 2020
– “Triune” in “Daughters of the Dragon,” Group show, Gallery Lane Cove, 2020
– “Gloss,” Project Space, Cement Fondu, Paddington, Sydney, 2019
– “Gloss,” I: project Space, Beijing. Supported by the Australian Embassy, 2018
– “Terms” in “Future Tao,” Bangkok Biennial, Curated by lololol, 2018
– "A Kingdom of Flowers for My Mother,” Firstdraft, Sydney, 2018
– “To Enclose One’s Mouth” in “Familiar Stranger,” 4A Centre for Contemporary Asian Art, Sydney, 2017
– “Broken Vessel of 1996 (⼀九九六年的破釜)” Longli International New Media Arts Festival, Longli, China, 2016
Select Awards & Residencies
– Finalist ACAR Art Prize, 2026
– Banff Winter Musicians in Residence, 2026
– Special Commendation Award for “Girl in the Gloaming”, The Churchie Emerging Art Prize, 2024
– Finalist “Impact” category in the Asia Pacific Arts Awards, Creative Australia, 2024
– VACS Major Commissioning Projects, Creative Australia, 2023
– Collingwood Yards Studio Artist, 2023
– “Fruit Song” acquisition by the Art Gallery of New South Wales with funds provided by the Asia Art Collection Benefactors, 2023
– Artist in Residence, Eaton Workshop HK, 2023
– WINNER of FBI SMAC: Artist of the Year, FBi Radio, 2022
– 40 Under 40 Most Influential Asian Australian Awards: Arts and Culture, 2022
– City of Sydney and Brand X Creative Artist Studios, 2022
– Finalist NSW Visual Arts Emerging Fellowship (Artspace, CreateNSW, NAS), 2021-22
– Finalist of ABU Prizes: Perspectives "Songs from a Walled Village," ABC Radio National, 2021
– One Year Artist Studio Program, Artspace, 2020
– 4A Beijing Studio Program, 2018
– Finalist of Nightlife Residency, China Residencies & I: project space, 2018
– WINNER of Best Song, "Let Me", Sydney Music, Arts & Culture Awards, FBi Radio, 2017
– Creative Live/Work Spaces Residency Program, City of Sydney, 2017