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IB Art Exhibition

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<strong>IB</strong> ART<br />

EXH<strong>IB</strong>ITION<br />

2021


CURATORIAL RATIONALE<br />

Ariana L


CURATORIAL RATIONALE<br />

- Ariana L -<br />

The theme of my exhibition is ‘Gender’. It explores the<br />

role of women as well as gender stereotypes that<br />

currently prevail in society. The intention is to<br />

encourage the viewer to deeply reflect on whether<br />

they have been in a situation of making assumptions<br />

based on gender. In addition, it aims to let the viewer<br />

give thought to whether their life has changed because<br />

of their gender, especially during particular stages of<br />

maturity such as their teenage years and in the work<br />

environment. It is in this regard that I have created an<br />

overall body of work that explores the issue of gender<br />

inequality and how it impacts society.<br />

Three installations will be arranged in the darkroom to<br />

give the viewer a stronger visual impact. This will assist<br />

me in expressing the concept of my work better and<br />

with powerful emotions that are experienced due to the<br />

visual impact. ‘A doll’s house’, inspired by Cornelia<br />

Parker, reinforces the emotion of abortion and gender<br />

stereotypes. In addition, this piece allows the observer<br />

to see from the top, and hence get a stronger sense of<br />

how the doll is physically being controlled by hand,<br />

indicating gender power differences. People can also<br />

see ‘doll’ from various angels and obtain an idea of<br />

the entire action of the hand, ultimately enhancing their<br />

experience. This specific setting could emphasize the<br />

idea of gender stereotypes back to the 1920s where<br />

women had to follow the rule set by their husbands,<br />

one can therefore relate if this remains an issue<br />

currently.<br />

‘Hope’, influenced by Lauren Demaison, is created to<br />

emphasize the feeling of one trying to live in a chaotic<br />

and socially unequal environment with light that is<br />

projected into the ocean. It is displayed at a corner for<br />

a broader view. This is with the hope of breaking<br />

gender stereotypes. It is also painted with chiaroscuro,<br />

which magnifies the idea of melancholy. ‘Life ’was<br />

another exhibition, which was designed in a zoetrope<br />

format. It is displayed with the typical wedding song to<br />

highlight the issue of how people believe it is taboo for<br />

women to not be married when they are in their 30s. It<br />

is however certainly not the case for men. The cut-out<br />

shadows in the zoetrope, display my childhood and my<br />

mother’s life after marriage. This zoetrope is designed<br />

and placed in the darkroom to encourage the viewer to<br />

focus on the theme of gender inequality. Moreover, it is<br />

essential for others to visualize whether their life has<br />

also followed what happens in the zoetrope and if this<br />

is possibly going to be the same for their next<br />

generation.<br />

For my exhibition ‘Catch’, I have chosen to include a<br />

range of media. The use of a shattered mirror is not<br />

only included to express the concept of postpartum<br />

depression, but also allows the viewer to review the<br />

obstacles they have encountered or are currently<br />

facing as women. The technique chiaroscuro is used to<br />

highlight the action of catching and the emotions of<br />

postpartum depression. This is also linked to the<br />

charcoal, indicating the unfair gender assumptions of<br />

how women need to do all the childcare duties. The<br />

action of testing the temperature of powdered milk is<br />

done incorrectly, in this regard it reflects the lack of<br />

childcare knowledge that a general father has. This is<br />

still a issue that could leads postpartum depression.<br />

The ‘Self-care’ is designed for children. The digital<br />

piece illustrates a vintage style and how Disney’s<br />

princesses do not always need a ‘prince ’to save them<br />

in reality. This piece will be displayed where most of<br />

the children would be waiting for class. It is displayed<br />

right next to ‘Flora’ to emphasize that women are<br />

valuing themselves and finding inner strength. This could<br />

raise awareness of the gender assumption that women<br />

are usually weaker than men, hence bringing it to the<br />

attention of a wider audience range.<br />

‘Red’ is a double-colored print woodcut that is<br />

influenced by a film called ‘Raise the Red Lantern ’and<br />

Alfons Maria Mucha. This art is created to express<br />

Chinese concubines pitted against each other in a<br />

struggle for their husband’s affection. As a result,<br />

leading to serious consequences such as outbursts of<br />

jealousy. The inclusion of Chinese Red is to accentuate<br />

the level of restriction and oppression. Black is<br />

supposed to symbolize basic depression, but it is<br />

covered with feudal power. This work could entice the<br />

viewer to reflect on whether this aspect is still an issue<br />

for women. For instance, if they still dress up and wear<br />

delicate makeup to please their husband due to lack of<br />

control and power in the family. I chose to display<br />

‘Flora ’next to ‘Red ’as I focused on complex patterns<br />

that are influenced by Mucha. ‘Flora ’is used to express<br />

the natural beauty of women. It is referred to as the<br />

‘goddess Flora’, to accentuate the feminine curves of<br />

the goddesses during renaissance time. It is also<br />

influenced by Margaret MacDonald Mackintosh with<br />

natural details such as flowers and free lines to<br />

emphasize feminine beauty.


CURATORIAL RATIONALE<br />

Ariana L<br />

Date: 2020<br />

Media: Graphite on Paper<br />

Title: Temperature<br />

Size H x W (x D): 77cm * 53cm<br />

This piece is a hyperrealism style using graphite. Therefore, I<br />

created lots of details of the wrinkles of the hand. The way<br />

he tested the milk is misguided and this shows how careless<br />

he is which links back to the general stereotype that men<br />

think women should know everything about baby care but<br />

not themselves. It encompasses the value of womanhood,<br />

which is apparent throughout my works


CURATORIAL RATIONALE<br />

Ariana L<br />

Date: 2020<br />

Media: Sculpture<br />

Title: A Doll’s House<br />

Size H x W (x D): 58cm * 37cm * 48cm<br />

The doll on the stage is symbolized that women being controlled<br />

by men and dressed the way that they like, which does not have<br />

their own choice. I focused on the wrinkles of the hand on top of<br />

the doll to emphasize virility. The entire sculpture is displayed in<br />

a black box to create a sense of theatre. Red curtain is used to<br />

dramatize the power that men hold up over women.


CURATORIAL RATIONALE<br />

Ariana L<br />

Date: 2020<br />

Media: Oil on Painting<br />

Title: Hope<br />

Size H x W (x D): 90cm * 60cm<br />

The water distortion is inspired by Lauren Demaison. It gives<br />

a sense of women inner struggles of who have suffered from<br />

the stereotype of women should be flawless and do not show<br />

any masculinity characteristics which are influenced by Frida<br />

Kahlo. The dark background also creates chiaroscuro effect<br />

and emphasize the sense of melancholy.


CURATORIAL RATIONALE<br />

Ariana L<br />

Date: 2020<br />

Media: Woodcut<br />

Title: Red<br />

Size H x W (x D): 45cm * 45cm<br />

This woodcut is inspired by a Chinese movie called “Raise<br />

the Red Lantern”. This movie is about sexual enslavement. It<br />

shows how Chinese concubines pitting against each other in a<br />

struggle of their husband’s affection. I want to use this<br />

artwork to raise gender inequality as men have more choices<br />

than women and could pick the wife or concubines that they<br />

want. But women are forced to get married. The inclusion of<br />

Chinese Red is to accentuate the level of restriction and<br />

oppression.


CURATORIAL RATIONALE<br />

Ariana L<br />

Date: 2020<br />

Media: Digital<br />

Title: Self-care<br />

Size H x W (x D): A3<br />

This is a digital work that is created to criticise the general<br />

conception of Disney princess. The typical princess image in<br />

Disney movie also shows that girls should wait for a man to<br />

rescue them and act as love at first sight. I used similar<br />

brushstrokes that Amy Mebberson uses to create a vintage style.<br />

Also, this work shows that a girl does not have to wait for the<br />

prince to help them to wear the crystal shoes. They have the<br />

right to pick anything they want. This emphasize that women are<br />

valuing themselves and finding inner strength.


CURATORIAL RATIONALE<br />

Ariana L<br />

Date: 2020<br />

Media: Stained Glass<br />

Title: Flora<br />

Size H x W (x D): 89cm * 59cm<br />

This work is inspired by Alfonse Maria Mucha and Margaret<br />

Macdonald. It is based on the composition that Mucha created to<br />

show the natural beauty of women from Greek mythology. I<br />

used lots of detailed linework that is inspired from Margaret<br />

MacDonald Mackintosh to emphasize the beauty of the woman<br />

and used flower pattern that has different symbolisms in Greek<br />

mythology.


CURATORIAL RATIONALE<br />

Ariana L<br />

Date: 2020<br />

Media: Installation<br />

Title: Life Box<br />

Size H x W (x D): 34cm * 34cm * 60cm<br />

This is a zoetrope music box inspired by Mat Collishaw. It shows<br />

a life cycle of a stereotypical girl in China. The cover is designed<br />

on CAD and I laser cut it out. I used stereotypical colour that<br />

people presume a girl would like with sheers and stars. This<br />

creates a sense of girly and fantasy style. It allows the viewer to<br />

think whether their life also follows the pattern while it moves.<br />

This is also displayed with the wedding music, which again<br />

emphasize the importance of marriage to a girl that people<br />

normally think.


CURATORIAL RATIONALE<br />

Ariana L<br />

Date: 2021<br />

Media: Mixed Media<br />

Title: Catch<br />

Size H x W (x D): 146cm * 70cm<br />

The water distortion is inspired by Lauren Demaison. It gives<br />

a sense of women inner struggles of who have suffered<br />

from the stereotype of women should be flawless and do<br />

not show any masculinity characteristics which are influenced<br />

by Frida Kahlo. The dark background also creates<br />

chiaroscuro effect and emphasize the sense of melancholy.


CURATORIAL RATIONALE<br />

Ariana L<br />

Date: 2021<br />

Media: Mixed Media<br />

Title: Fetus<br />

Size H x W (x D): N/A<br />

This work is inspired by Cornelia Parker, reinforces the<br />

emotion of abortion and gender stereotypes. The baby<br />

fetus is displayed in different stages during pregnancy<br />

with XY chromosome models to reflect the issue of<br />

abortion due to the gender of the fetus. Babies are<br />

forced into gender roles before they are even fully<br />

developed in the womb.


CURATORIAL RATIONALE<br />

Cher X


CURATORIAL RATIONALE<br />

- Cher X -<br />

When my parents divorced, my grandpa, our only<br />

immediate male relative, assumed the family’s natural<br />

patriarchal role. His condescending views towards the<br />

status of women brought a perpetual feeling of oppression<br />

into our home.<br />

As I began to understand the ramifications of my<br />

grandpa’s constant patronization, I found myself eager to<br />

challenge the status quo at home. When my attempts<br />

failed, I turned to art as a way of confronting the domestic<br />

gender inequality that I experienced. As a result, I created<br />

an oil painting series titled Choice. The paintings reflect<br />

issues surrounding sexism that are prominent in my family<br />

and pervasive amongst my generation of Chinese people.<br />

I painted sheep to represent the women in my family,<br />

molded into conformity through a culture that normalized<br />

sexism and toxic masculinity. The jarring colors—bright red<br />

and blue—worked to depict a menacing environment in<br />

jarring contrast with the soft white hue of the naive sheep.<br />

Playing with the notion that the sheep are unable to their<br />

similarities in one another, I emphasized the lack of their<br />

similarities in one another, I emphasized the lack of<br />

cognizance of the subjects. My “sheep” do not recognize<br />

the ingrained sexism of their situation, just as I did not<br />

initially understand the systemic inequality in my own<br />

home.<br />

<strong>Art</strong> was not always a medium of activism for me. Before<br />

experimenting with my art to explore my situation at<br />

home, I imagined that the point of art was to perfectly<br />

replicate our three-dimensional world onto a twodimensional<br />

canvas. Creating Choice offered me a space<br />

to challenge the confines of the unspoken rules at home.<br />

Since, I’ve grown to see art as a language more powerful<br />

than spoken words. Throughout high school, I worked to<br />

expand my artistic vocabulary from images and colors to<br />

textures, movement, emotion, interaction and light.<br />

This past summer, I interned at a publishing firm. Through<br />

this this opportunity, I learned about the form of the “art<br />

book”: a medium of collecting that shares ideas with a<br />

greater degree of intimacy than the more solemn format<br />

of a museum exhibition. When a viewer opens a book,<br />

they can choose which ideas to save for later or revisit at<br />

their convenience. An exhibition, on the other hand, is more<br />

domineering, as it forces the spectator to engage right<br />

then and there, in an order that the curator determines.<br />

Expanding my artistic vocabulary once again, I decided to<br />

create my own art book, You, proposing a dialogue about<br />

the body-image issues that young women face. This idea<br />

originated from my own experiences and conversations<br />

with friends. Grappling with the impact that body-image<br />

norms and societal pressure had on the women around me,<br />

I decided to face these problems head on. After days of<br />

research, I realized, in East or West, the thread of<br />

commonality is not a specific shape, but the distortion of<br />

what people should look like. Portraying this distortion<br />

became the concept of my work. You is only complete<br />

upon interaction with its readers. When readers flip every<br />

page, the ordinary image on one side becomes disfigured<br />

by a mirror on the opposing page, rendering it<br />

unrecognizable. The distortion varies based on the way<br />

the reader holds the book. Each reading generates a<br />

distinctive result—just as perceptions of the ideal body<br />

shifts across culture and through time periods.<br />

The exhibition has two components arranged in an order<br />

that show the development of my theme ‘Struggle’. At the<br />

start of <strong>IB</strong> Visual <strong>Art</strong>s, I focused on global issues such as the<br />

world refugee crisis. In works ‘Untitled 1’, ‘Untitled 2’, and<br />

‘Mom and Child’, I explored the theme of familial love in<br />

the context of conflict and desperation to challenge the<br />

media dehumanization of refugees to a number. This series<br />

of work is placed on the left side of the senior school<br />

entrance. The more personal exploration of the theme<br />

domestic women rights is placed on the right side of the<br />

same entrance. The plinths show the third section of my<br />

work, which includes a video and a book, are related to<br />

feminism and body image.


CURATORIAL RATIONALE<br />

Cher X<br />

Date: January 2020<br />

Media: Oil on Canvas<br />

Title: An Afternoon<br />

Size H x W (x D): 60cm * 80cm<br />

My grandma spends a lot of time on the sofa in our<br />

living room. One day during quarantine, the color of her<br />

clothing combined with our sofa created a palette that<br />

caught my eye, and I decided to capture the scene.<br />

Creating work centering my grandma prompted me to<br />

closely observe her in everyday life. In my eyes, my<br />

grandma is reserved and submissive, like many Chinese<br />

women from her generation. Considering the social<br />

context that molded her into the person she is prompted<br />

my work to develop from personal to political.


CURATORIAL RATIONALE<br />

Cher X<br />

Date: March 2020<br />

Media: Oil on Canvas<br />

Title: Choice<br />

The series ‘Choice’ reflects the state of cognizance in face of<br />

domestic gender inequality among the women in my family.<br />

Having normalized the patriarchy in my family the women in my<br />

family, followed my grandpa’s orders. However, as my<br />

awareness of feminism grew, my desire to challenge the status<br />

quo at home grew. I used sheep to represent the women in my<br />

family, molded into conformity through a culture that normalized<br />

sexism and toxic masculinity. The jarring colors, bright red and<br />

blue, worked to set a menacing environment contrasted by the<br />

soft white hue of the naive sheep. Playing with the notion that the<br />

sheep are unable to see their reflections in the water, nor its<br />

shadows, I emphasize the lack of cognizance of the subjects,<br />

unable to recognize the ingrained sexism in their situation.


CURATORIAL RATIONALE<br />

Cher X<br />

Date: August 2020<br />

Media: Oil on Canvas<br />

Title: Day in the Kitchen<br />

Size H x W (x D): 70cm * 90cm<br />

In ‘Day in the Kitchen’, I distort my grandma’s realistic size,<br />

painting her bigger than the refrigerator and more muscular, I<br />

tried to empower her in this piece of work.


CURATORIAL RATIONALE<br />

Cher X<br />

Date: September 2020<br />

Media: Watercolor, Ink on Ice Paper,<br />

Acrylic<br />

Title: You<br />

Size: A4, A5, A5<br />

Through the opportunity of interning at a publishing firm, I<br />

learned about the form of the “art book”: a medium of collecting<br />

that shares idea with a greater degree of intimacy than the<br />

more solemn format of a museum exhibition. When a viewer<br />

opens a book, they can choose which ideas to save for later or<br />

revisit at their convenience. Therefore, I decided to turn the<br />

abstract ink work into a book, ‘You’, proposing a dialogue about<br />

the body-image issues that young women face. You is only<br />

complete upon interaction with its readers. When readers flip<br />

every page, the ordinary image on one side becomes disfigured<br />

by a mirror on the opposing page, rendering it unrecognizable.<br />

The distortion varies based on the way the reader holds the<br />

book. Each reading generates a distinctive result—just as<br />

perceptions of the ideal body shifts across culture and through<br />

time periods.


CURATORIAL RATIONALE<br />

Cher X<br />

Date: November 2019<br />

Media: Oil on Canvas<br />

Title: Untitled (1&2)<br />

Size H x W (x D): 40cm * 50cm<br />

After reading ‘the Kite Runner’, I became increasingly interested<br />

in the topic of war, conflict, and refugees. I spent many<br />

weekends reading about ongoing conflicts. Seeing the way<br />

children my age or younger being forced out of school,<br />

separated from family, and hungry, I felt a simultaneous<br />

heartbreak and motivation.<br />

These two paintings were the first time I considered art as a<br />

voice to speak up for injustice.


CURATORIAL RATIONALE<br />

Cher X<br />

Date: September 2019<br />

Media: Stop Motion Video<br />

Title: Me<br />

Size H x W (x D): 4.8MB<br />

As a child, my mom often told me to be myself. And on the road<br />

to becoming ‘myself’, I faced many obstacles. This video<br />

explores the ‘being myself’, ‘changing myself’, and ‘bettering<br />

myself’.<br />

In the video, the red dot that eventually covers the whole screen<br />

explores the idea of coming of age, change, and growth. The<br />

soundtrack was made with four recordings of my voice. The four<br />

different sounds give each colored dot -red, green, blue, and<br />

pink- a different personality.


CURATORIAL RATIONALE<br />

Cher X<br />

Date: January 2021<br />

Media: Cloth<br />

Title: Warranted<br />

Size H x W (x D): 40cm * 165cm<br />

About mental health.


CURATORIAL RATIONALE<br />

Cher X<br />

Date: March 2021<br />

Media: Color pencil<br />

Title: Bearing Fruit<br />

Size H x W (x D): 30cm * 50cm<br />

About childbirth and femininity.


CURATORIAL RATIONALE<br />

Henry K


CURATORIAL RATIONALE<br />

- Henry K -<br />

Through my exhibition, I wanted to illustrate a sensitive and<br />

ironic portrayal of our apathy and empathy associated<br />

with social issues in the modern era. Each work addresses<br />

different question that I throw towards our society. I have<br />

always wanted to get a deep insight into people and<br />

society. To achieve this, I have been investigating different<br />

global issues and human emotions throughout the course.<br />

My idea is to convey the warning message against our<br />

society, a warning towards what we have done wrong now<br />

and potentially in the future. The warning messages are<br />

understated in my pieces, illustrating our everyday life. By<br />

depicting subtle peculiarity and tense across the pieces, I<br />

want to expose what we do not see and not conscious<br />

about and for all the viewers to acknowledge and reflect<br />

on our misdeed and immorality.<br />

My exhibition of works involves two techniques I used:<br />

''Peculiarity'' and ''Tenseness''. The pieces'' Indifference'',<br />

''Sushi Restaurant'', ''The Peace We Lost'', ''CAMEL'',<br />

''Obedience'' are identified as ''Peculiarity''. The pieces'<br />

pieces' Feminine'', ''apocalyptic warnings of the end of<br />

society'', ''Feelings'', ''Drones'', ''Acrophobia'' are identified<br />

as ''Tenseness''. The works in ''Peculiarity'' symbolize the<br />

apathy of our society. The characteristic of ''Peculiarity''<br />

pieces is calm and static. These pieces are "paused",<br />

paused in their time zone. Although each piece is frozen in<br />

a different time zone, all portraits a quirky situation.<br />

I want the viewers to feel the bizarreness and dryness from<br />

the pieces. All five pieces are painted in third-person<br />

perspectives since I want the viewers to become the ones<br />

who observe the minute details we missed in our society<br />

and realize our unconsciousness is what leads to the<br />

desperations.<br />

The works in ''Tenseness'' represents a sense of urgency<br />

and danger. Each piece is the portrayals of dynamic and<br />

extreme expressions. The ''Tenseness'' series works involve<br />

clear and vivid facial expressions. These works invoke the<br />

power of emotion and symbolize the empathy of human<br />

beings. By depicting the facial expressions that appear in<br />

radical situations, I wanted to convey the idea of<br />

desperations and repentance. I like the viewers to share<br />

the same emotion with the human figures and deeply<br />

realize that our future society is not going in the right<br />

direction, as shown in the past, present days.<br />

The piece ''Seashore Rock'' does not belong to both<br />

''Peculiarity'' and ''tenseness'' series, but instead plays a<br />

role to bring the viewers out of ignorance and illusion. The<br />

fresh and powerful tidal I illustrated grants the viewer a<br />

peace of calm, wishing a tiny hope and energy to the<br />

society.<br />

My works for the exhibition will be arranged successively<br />

and horizontally. As most of my works are presented in 2-<br />

dimensional, I will be placing them on the wall but not just<br />

randomly. I believe that each of my works displays<br />

different tenses – Past, present, and future tense. The<br />

leftward side of the wall represents the past, and the<br />

rightward side represents the future.<br />

An example will be ''CAMEL'', which I will hang at the most<br />

right-hand side of the wall as it illustrates the event in the<br />

distant future. The tenses also represent my insight into<br />

society.<br />

The works in ''past tense''* represent our reflection towards<br />

the mistakes we have committed to earlier days. The works<br />

in ''present tense ' '* illustrate the mistakes we are currently<br />

committing in society. Lastly, the works in ''future tense ' '*<br />

indicate my fear and anxiety towards the mistakes we<br />

may make in future. The exhibition represents an overview<br />

of society's history by telling viewers what happened, what<br />

is happening, and what will happen. Therefore, achieving<br />

my intention to inspire the viewers to perceive both<br />

negative and positive aspects of our society.<br />

Most of my works provide the third-person perspective at<br />

a higher and eye-level. Considering this, I will posit these<br />

works about my eye-level or below. As my 2-dimensional<br />

works are presented on a large scale, it will amplify the<br />

effect of overwhelming and dragging the viewer into the<br />

story that each work represents. Also, many minute details<br />

can be closely observed by the viewers too.


CURATORIAL RATIONALE<br />

Henry K<br />

Media: Pencil<br />

Title: Indifference<br />

Size H x W (x D): 60cm * 90cm<br />

This piece illustrates the coldness and apathy that I have<br />

witnessed in the Korean (hometown) society. I believe that the<br />

continuous rising unemployment rate and an increase in<br />

smartphone usage have made our society a senseless place. The<br />

background location is ‘Bokchon’, where I felt is the most Korean<br />

like place. In this piece, I illustrated a person staring at the<br />

smartphone without noticing a tiger approaching. It indicates a<br />

strong immersion rate the smartphone possess to people.<br />

Furthermore, it is the ‘peculiarity’ I wanted illustrate. Through this<br />

piece, I wanted to convey the idea that our society is becoming<br />

a more self-centred and emotionless world via depicting a<br />

quirky situation.


CURATORIAL RATIONALE<br />

Henry K<br />

Media: Woodcut<br />

Title: Feminine<br />

Size H x W (x D): 52.5cm * 100cm<br />

This piece is majorly inspired by the comic book ‘Persepolis’ by<br />

Marjane Satrapi and contains my personal interpretations of<br />

Feminism. The ‘Hijab’ is the element I utilized in this piece since I<br />

believe that Hijab represents the oppression and pain of the<br />

woman since it hinders all the beauty and freedom a woman can<br />

express. The contrast between flowers and female souls on both<br />

sides of the hijab represents beauty and oppression. The<br />

woman’s eye represents my strong opposition against the<br />

discriminations from society.


CURATORIAL RATIONALE<br />

Henry K<br />

Media: 3D<br />

Title: Apocalyptic Warnings Of The End<br />

Of Society<br />

Size H x W (x D): 20cm * 20cm * 23cm<br />

This illustrates my imagination of an abandoned city due to the<br />

rising sea-level caused by global warming. As global warming is<br />

becoming the most urgent issue globally, I felt that we lack<br />

consciousness and interest in this emergent issue. I have utilized<br />

Styrofoam, resin and iron wools in this piece. My earnest<br />

message towards the society that saving the planet cannot be<br />

delayed anymore or otherwise; the imagination will become true<br />

shortly.


CURATORIAL RATIONALE<br />

Henry K<br />

Media: Oil on Woodboard<br />

Title: Sushi Restaurant<br />

Size H x W (x D): 52cm * 84cm<br />

This piece may look like a normal Japanese restaurant<br />

illustration at first glance before you find the chopped hand<br />

placed on the plate by the chef. This piece is inspired by the<br />

work 'nighthawks' of Edward Hopper. As 'nighthawks' convey<br />

modern society's true emotion, I also wanted to express the<br />

depression and frustration of modern society. The restaurant's<br />

calm and peacefulness despite the chopped hand indicates the<br />

indifference and senselessness of modern people. The dryness of<br />

the society indicates our lack of emotion and sentiment, which<br />

shows how modern people is living in a treadmill life.


CURATORIAL RATIONALE<br />

Henry K<br />

Media: Oil on Canvas<br />

Title: The Peace We Lost<br />

Size H x W (x D): 80cm * 120cm<br />

Majorly inspired by O Jiho and Claude Monet, I wanted to<br />

express Korean sentiment and culture through impressionist<br />

techniques. The view of this piece is the 'Demilitarised zone'<br />

between South and North Korea. I believe that the view contains<br />

the memory of the Korean war and the hope of the Unification<br />

of one Korea. With this idea in mind, I have created this purely<br />

based on my impression of the view. The girls running towards<br />

north suggest the peculiarity since this is not possible to enter<br />

DMZ.


CURATORIAL RATIONALE<br />

Henry K<br />

Media: Clay<br />

Title: Obedience<br />

Size H x W (x D): 25cm * 30cm * 24cm<br />

"What if you were the animals? How would you feel?". This is a<br />

piece inspired by such questions, I thought. If we are animals,<br />

how humans will treat us? We are only free after death. In the<br />

piece, three human figures are kneeling in front of the animal's<br />

remains. It suggests we are showing the reverence to the animals.<br />

The real grass is grown with real animal skulls suggests ‘the<br />

death on freedom from destruction’ . Therefore, I wanted to<br />

convey the message of animal protection via generating a sense<br />

of empathy from the viewers.


CURATORIAL RATIONALE<br />

Henry K<br />

Media: Digital<br />

Title: CAMEL<br />

Size H x W (x D): 4096px * 2048px<br />

This is a digital painting of future transportation I imagined in<br />

the shape of a camel. I imagined a scenario that desertification<br />

has totally lost control in the distant future due to extreme<br />

climate change. The animals, including camels, have become<br />

extinct. In such a situation, human has devised new transportation<br />

which created based on camel traits. Through this piece, I<br />

wanted to criticize the idea that we humans are always devising<br />

the solutions for ostensible problems and trying to adopt, accept<br />

the current situation.


CURATORIAL RATIONALE<br />

Henry K<br />

Media: Mixed Media<br />

Title: Feelings<br />

Size H x W (x D): 43cm * 43cm<br />

This piece is the portraits of my four different facial expressions<br />

through four different mediums. The facial expressions indicate<br />

how I feel about the oppressions from society, competition, and<br />

pandemic. The emotion includes Sorrow, Anger, Annoyance and<br />

frustration.


CURATORIAL RATIONALE<br />

Henry K<br />

Media: Pencil<br />

Title: Drones<br />

Size H x W (x D): 38cm * 53cm<br />

The facial expression of myself suffering from the drones<br />

indicates my consciousness of the near-future crisis. I believe that<br />

the new drone designs will take over all the delivery services in<br />

future. However, I do not prefer such a society. In future, the<br />

value of labour will significantly decrease due to these high-tech<br />

machines. Therefore, society might become a dry, inconvenient<br />

place, as I illustrated in this piece.


CURATORIAL RATIONALE<br />

Henry K<br />

Media: Oil on Canvas<br />

Title: Acrophobia<br />

Size H x W (x D): 60cm * 80cm<br />

Like 'Drones', this piece also represents my consciousness of the<br />

near-future crisis. In this piece, I portraited me falling from the<br />

future transpiration - 'Drone Taxi' that I imagined. Due to the<br />

high demand for roads and an increase in future population,<br />

drones will play a bigger role. However, I believe that such a<br />

great design can also be detrimental to our society. Like cars,<br />

plastic, nuclear, and weapons, which everyone thought was the<br />

greatest design in human history, is considered detrimental.


CURATORIAL RATIONALE<br />

Henry K<br />

Media: Oil on Canvas<br />

Title: Seashore Rock<br />

Size H x W (x D): 30cm * 60cm<br />

'Seashore Rock' is a landscape painting. My own investigation of<br />

impressionism focused on 'what I felt rather than 'what I saw'. The<br />

freshness and brightness were my biggest impression of the<br />

beach I went to during the summer holiday. I included this piece<br />

in the exhibition to bring viewers outside the negative<br />

perspectives of me towards our society and feel the freshness<br />

that is remaining in our society.


CURATORIAL RATIONALE<br />

Jenna H


CURATORIAL RATIONALE<br />

- Jenna H -<br />

Emotions are strong feelings deriving from one's<br />

circumstances, mood, or relationships with others. Emotions<br />

have two sides, external and internal; external emotions<br />

are mainly represented through facial expressions, verbal<br />

communication, and body gestures. On the other hand,<br />

internal emotions are more complex. They tend to be<br />

transparent, soundless and intangible. I therefore based<br />

my exhibition's theme on internal emotions.<br />

The old man is using a large wood board to set a fire<br />

which represents seeking hope, symbolising my persistent<br />

hard work and my pursuit of hope.<br />

My works are differentiated into three categories —<br />

optimistic, neutral and pessimistic— forming a gradual<br />

change and smooth transition. Thus, the exhibition is<br />

arranged in this order, from fear, to anger, to tranquil,<br />

then to hope, as if there are a cycle of emotion that<br />

everyone must go through everyday. By connecting all of<br />

these precious emotions together, I wish to touch on the<br />

implication of emotions are inseparable and the<br />

adjustment of our mind set is significant.<br />

My art represents several stages that I have experienced<br />

in the past few years: nostalgic, passionate, indifferent,<br />

anxious and struggling. Each piece illustrates a specific<br />

memorable scenario of my own personal journey. Through<br />

making art, I have gained a thorough recognition of<br />

myself and established ways to communicate with and<br />

reflect upon myself.<br />

Most of my works are metaphorical, different<br />

interpretations that can be applied subjectively based<br />

upon people’s own personal experiences, for one of my<br />

purposes of creating artworks is to let the empathy of<br />

viewers emerge. For example, the digital piece ‘Drinking<br />

Coffee’ is a reaction piece to the COVID-19 pandemic,<br />

when I was forced to quarantine more than three months


CURATORIAL RATIONALE<br />

Jenna H<br />

Media: Pencil on Paper<br />

Title: How to Forget<br />

Size H x W (x D): 59.4cm * 84.1cm<br />

The style and the texture of this piece are inspired by Glen<br />

Ronald, who utilises charcoal and kneaded eraser to create<br />

wiggly lines that look like ash, and it forms direct contrast with<br />

the black background painted. There are pure white spaces in<br />

the mirror to add value and contrast with the pure black spaces.<br />

The ash merges into both the girl’s face and her grandad’s<br />

mirror draw by 6b pencil in detail, symbolising though they are<br />

not touching each other physically, her grandpa stays in her<br />

memory forever. ‘How to Forget’ conveys my emotion, cherishing<br />

his influence that has deeply rooted in my mind eternally.


CURATORIAL RATIONALE<br />

Jenna H<br />

Date: December 2019<br />

Media: Sculpture<br />

Title: ‘HELP!’<br />

Inspired by Johnson Tsang’s exaggerated distortion elements<br />

which are shown through the character’s face, I decided to focus<br />

on the facial expression of the man, the wrinkles and veins stood<br />

out and is created by sticking an extra layer of clay. The details<br />

are done when the clay is half dry so that it is easier to carve<br />

into. Both the head and the arm is hollow filled with a<br />

newspaper which alleviates the mass of the final product. The<br />

board is separated into two parts where the hand could be held<br />

away from the hand to emphasise the theme of desperateness.<br />

As the guy is trying to climb out of the marsh but it is a futile<br />

attempt, the sculpture indicates no matter how hard you try,<br />

there is no way out.


CURATORIAL RATIONALE<br />

Jenna H<br />

Media: Woodcut<br />

Title: The Cycle of Lost<br />

Inspired by M.C. Escher who uses swallow as the main element of<br />

his woodcut, I decided to use a flock of swallows from near to<br />

far, flying from the sky to a cliff, to depict a circular shape<br />

indicating there is a cycle. The infinite number of birds in the far<br />

end purposely draws to make the audience dazzle, thus,<br />

emerging a sense of loss. The lines for the sky are horizontal<br />

whereas the lines for the cliff are vertical, which form direct<br />

contrast and will make every part more apparent. Furthermore,<br />

there is a gradual change of colour from black to white, which is<br />

achieved by the gradually thickened lines from bottom to top.<br />

The work communicates the message of loss of individuality as<br />

there are so many birds each individual is actually lost in the<br />

crowd.


CURATORIAL RATIONALE<br />

Jenna H<br />

Media: Drinking Coffee<br />

Title: Digital<br />

Size H x W (x D): 1973px * 2262px<br />

Inspired by Marta Syrko’s photography I focused on depicting<br />

beauty, specifically focusing on the eyes nose and mouth. I<br />

created 6 layers in ‘procreate’ for sketching, colouring, putting<br />

highlights, adding shadows, drawing background and smoothing<br />

the borders. I didn’t use the colour directly from my photo, but<br />

instead, I add warmth and saturation to make the background<br />

(water) look like coffee and make the bubble look like milk frost.<br />

The woman is lying in a pool of coffee, meanwhile drinking the<br />

coffee, which represents the excessive temptations around me<br />

that can’t be overcome.


CURATORIAL RATIONALE<br />

Jenna H<br />

Media: Pen and Ink<br />

Title: Mahākāla<br />

Size H x W (x D): 60cm * 60cm<br />

Borrowing the element from Tangka (Tibetan mural design), this<br />

piece is about the god ‘Mahākāla’ who is Shakyamuni’s (a<br />

buddha’s) angry incarnation. He sits on a lily pad which means<br />

tranquillity to suppress his anger and to conceal his emotions. This<br />

piece tries to convey how every person has an angry side as if<br />

the ‘Mahākāla’ is in them, but we all should learn how to deal<br />

with it and eliminate our irritation. I drew elements in the<br />

background like elephants, skulls, little devils, etc that is very<br />

commonly used in Tibet. Instead of traditional Chinese colour, I<br />

decided to do black and white using a ball pen; combining dots,<br />

lines, and shaded planes, to add vivacity to the drawing.


CURATORIAL RATIONALE<br />

Karen K


CURATORIAL RATIONALE<br />

- Karen K -<br />

The overarching theme of my exhibition is the relationship<br />

between humans and technology. Technology is deeply<br />

permeating into our lives: socially, economically, and<br />

environmentally, in which the pieces convey the active<br />

reciprocal action between the two topics. My inspiration<br />

comes from my surrounding. Just by observing what is next<br />

to me, I could find various technological devices, such as<br />

laptops to smartphones, which are an integral part of our<br />

lives. These devices allow us to communicate, research,<br />

and be a very tool in our education. However, I also<br />

thought about the negative consequences it creates, which<br />

inspired me to focus on both the benefits and costs of us<br />

cohabiting with technology.<br />

The layout of my artworks starts from touching on the<br />

general theme of my exhibition to proceeding into the<br />

deeper meanings and relationships. The display starts with<br />

a piece named ‘Tangled Feet’, alongside ‘ENIAC’ and<br />

‘Farming’ located on the right. All three share the same<br />

subject of monotone colors, which was intentionally put<br />

together to accentuate the artistic meaning inside. By<br />

starting my exhibition order form works with monotone to<br />

works with various colors, it would form a gradual increase<br />

in both the complexity of the use of colors and the theme.<br />

Technology invites us to another world filled with<br />

information, but the new path that brings us is uncertain,<br />

specifically on how technology will change our lives in the<br />

future.<br />

Below ‘ENIAC’ is ‘The Black Box’. The black opaque sides<br />

of the box gratify the curiosity of the audience, as the<br />

external view does not reveal anything. As an interactive<br />

piece, the viewer has to click the flashlight on, which is<br />

located next to the box, in order to look at what is inside<br />

the box. The brightened-up box reveals two metallic<br />

figures lying down, pointing to the audience. The abrasive<br />

texture of the two figures and the green background<br />

establishes an intense contrast, with wooden snipers on<br />

their hands. I wanted to portray the conflict and unstable<br />

minds of people when set in a decision, where various<br />

opinions are attacking the person’s original state. When<br />

the viewer peaks through the eye hole, the snipers that the<br />

two men are holding are pointing at the viewer, attacking<br />

their weak points, and questioning them, what makes you<br />

feel afraid?<br />

During one of my artist researches, I have watched a<br />

human documentary titled ‘I Met You’, which is about<br />

bringing people back who no longer exist in reality by<br />

utilizing Virtual Reality. This piece touches on the<br />

affectionate relationship of a family, and how technology<br />

can be useful for people to find back their loved ones.<br />

Similar to real VR screens, two identical compositions are<br />

drawn next to each other creating a feeling that the<br />

mother is watching her child through VR glasses. This piece<br />

conveys that although technology acts as a bridge<br />

between the mother and the child, it creates a distance<br />

between the two.<br />

One piece of mine, named ‘Location Tracker’ is a sculpture<br />

of my face. I was inspired by Katie Holland Lewis,<br />

especially one of her pieces titled ‘Tangled Pathways’.<br />

She documents subjective body experiences by first<br />

dividing her body into an abstract grid, and tracks places<br />

where she feels physical sensations by pinning red pins,<br />

linking them with red strings. ‘Location Tracker’ is a<br />

physical map drawn on a clay face with different colored<br />

pins and strings. Under the theme of surveillance, the<br />

personal map of myself tracks where I go and how much I<br />

have walked. With the numerical data on the ‘Health’<br />

application, the different colored strings stand for each<br />

day, with the length of each string representing how many<br />

steps I have walked every day. Technology is tracking our<br />

every move with exposes the vulnerability oSf how we are<br />

no longer free from ‘Big Brother’, being a part of an<br />

algorithm.<br />

‘The garden of Eden’ and ‘Robot brain’ share the same<br />

figures of wooden mannequins. The painting has two<br />

mannequins drawn next to a tree, and the sculpture has 9<br />

wooden mannequins surrounding a dangling core. As the<br />

two pieces share the same type of figures, it evokes a<br />

sense of feeling as if the mannequins in the brain are<br />

having a rest next to the tree. The figures I used here in<br />

the two artworks are very simplistic, which is aimed to<br />

portray the theme of humanity in an innocent and pure<br />

matter.<br />

From my art pieces, I want the audience to rethink how<br />

technology and network are both physically and mentally<br />

affecting themselves. As technology is advancing at a fast<br />

speed, the lives of people are easily changing both<br />

positively and negatively, but as a humanity, we should<br />

acknowledge the influence of technology on our social<br />

lives and be aware of how it shapes ourselves.


CURATORIAL RATIONALE<br />

Karen K<br />

Media: Graphite on Paper<br />

Title: Tangled Feet<br />

Size H x W (x D): 84cm * 59cm<br />

With the increasing dependency on technology, ‘Tangle Feet’<br />

illustrates people being tied down by their addiction. The use of<br />

graphite conveys the meaning in a calm but intense way. The<br />

theme and the medium form a juxtaposition between a longestablished<br />

medium and a new subject of development.


CURATORIAL RATIONALE<br />

Karen K<br />

Media: Clay and Glaze<br />

Title: Human WIFI<br />

Size H x W (x D): 43cm * 38cm<br />

A ceramic sculpture, ‘Human WIFI’ aims to express the intimate<br />

relationship between people and networks. Internet connects us<br />

to a new invisible world full of information, where people can<br />

acquire new knowledge or communicate with others. The strong<br />

contrast of the color scheme of black and white emphasizes each<br />

layer of the WIFI.


CURATORIAL RATIONALE<br />

Karen K<br />

Media: Acrylic on Canvas<br />

Title: The Garden of Eden 2020<br />

Size H x W (x D): 50cm * 70cm<br />

This work can be called the new version of The Garden of Eden.<br />

By twisting the original story, technological aspects are added,<br />

especially the CCTV next to the tree. The two wooden<br />

mannequins are under surveillance by CCTV. The mixed colors of<br />

acrylic wash make the painting seem as if a distorted filter is<br />

added, creating a contemporary look to the whole piece.


CURATORIAL RATIONALE<br />

Karen K<br />

Media: Acrylic and Pen on Printed<br />

Photography<br />

Title: Distorted Beijing<br />

Size H x W (x D): 36cm * 55cm<br />

Taken during a tour around Beijing, two photos are digitally<br />

manipulated and printed out on a canvas. The distorted traffic<br />

lights and the old man forms a contrast between the traditional<br />

culture left inside Beijing and rapidly developing technology. It<br />

demonstrates the current society in Beijing, where traditional sites<br />

and technologically advanced city centres are in proximity.


CURATORIAL RATIONALE<br />

Karen K<br />

Media: Clay on Board, String, Pins<br />

Title: Location Tracker<br />

Size H x W (x D): 24cm * 27cm<br />

Inspired by Katie Holland Lewis, ‘Location Tracker’ is under a<br />

theme of surveillance, where each location I go is pinned and<br />

connected on a map, which is drawn on top of a ceramic<br />

sculpture of my face. I wanted to express how technological<br />

devices are tracking wherever we go and how many steps we<br />

walk on a certain day. Each color represents a specific day, and<br />

the length of the strings reflects the foot-steps.


CURATORIAL RATIONALE<br />

Karen K<br />

Media: Oil on Board<br />

Title: VR<br />

Size H x W (x D): 94cm * 46cm<br />

Inspired by a human documentary titled ‘I Met You’, ‘VR’ is about<br />

bringing people back who no longer exist in reality by using<br />

Virtual Reality. This piece touches on the affectionate relationship<br />

of a family, and how technology can be useful for people to find<br />

back their loved ones. Similar to real VR screens, two identical<br />

compositions are drawn next to each other creating a feeling<br />

that the mother is watching her child through VR glasses. This<br />

piece conveys that although technology acts as a bridge<br />

between the mother and the child, it creates a distance between<br />

the two.


CURATORIAL RATIONALE<br />

Karen K<br />

Media: Acrylic Board, String, Drawing<br />

Mannequins<br />

Title: Robot Brain<br />

Size H x W (x D): 20cm * 20cm * 27cm<br />

During the step of different composition drawings, I thought of<br />

what would a robot brain look like. People are still controlling<br />

the movement and thoughts of robots. The robot’s process of<br />

absorbing information is shown by the soft<br />

purple light glowing from the core.


CURATORIAL RATIONALE<br />

Karen K<br />

Media: Clay with Glaze, Acrylic, Board,<br />

Fake Moss<br />

Title: The Black Box<br />

Size H x W (x D): 20cm * 20cm *40cm<br />

Inspired by three artists: Alberto Giacometti, Shin Yun Bok, and<br />

Matthew Barney, ‘The Black Box’ is a form of interactive art,<br />

where the audience peaks through the hole with a flashlight.<br />

When they do, the two metallic figures inside the box physically<br />

aim at the audience with a wooden gun in their hands. I wanted<br />

to portray the conflict and unstable minds of people when set in<br />

a decision, where various opinions are attacking the person’s<br />

original state. The snipers pointing at the viewer touch their weak<br />

points and questioning them, what makes you feel afraid?


CURATORIAL RATIONALE<br />

Karen K<br />

Media: Pen and Ink<br />

Title: ENIAC<br />

Size H x W (x D): 39cm * 27cm<br />

A human foot is hung up next to the first made computer, ENIAC.<br />

Cables are physically tangled and plugged on the foot,<br />

conveying that technology has already been a part of us since<br />

its initial development. The deep perspective of the composition<br />

generates a focus on the foot, emphasizing the message of the<br />

piece.


CURATORIAL RATIONALE<br />

Karen K<br />

Media: Woodcut<br />

Title: Farming<br />

Size H x W (x D): 42cm * 60cm<br />

Cables are lying tangled on a farm, with hands trying to pull out<br />

the carrots. Technology is permeating into our lives, which is<br />

symbolized by carrots. Nature, the innate qualities of a person,<br />

is highly affected by scientific knowledge.


CURATORIAL RATIONALE<br />

Leah S


CURATORIAL RATIONALE<br />

- Leah S -<br />

There are many threats that we face throughout our lives –<br />

ones that have left an influence in the past, ones that we<br />

are currently defending ourselves against, and ones in the<br />

future that will require us to prepare for.<br />

There exists many threats that are hazards to our<br />

livelihood – conflict, illness, or even just bad habits.<br />

However, threats are not limited to those that may<br />

endanger our physical wellbeing. They include<br />

metaphysical threats, such as ones that will harm our<br />

connections with others around us, or ones that might affect<br />

us mentally. I explore this in my painting, “The Dinner<br />

Table”, where I try to show how the development of<br />

information technology poses a threat towards our familial<br />

connections. This idea is also presented in “Distraction”,<br />

where I depict a threat that comes from my personal<br />

experience which I’m sure many can relate to.<br />

In my artworks, I aim to investigate not only the influence<br />

of these threats, but also the methods of defence that we<br />

have against them. Many defences that were crucial to our<br />

safety in the past are now futile, either disposed of or<br />

seen as tourist attractions. I attempt to look into how the<br />

value of these defences have changed through time, to us.<br />

As the threats that we face change, our methods of<br />

defence have to change too.<br />

This idea is explored in “The Great Wall” - at first sight<br />

the viewer would assume that its theme is mainly connected<br />

to Chinese cultural artifacts or tourist attractions.. It is also<br />

developed in my works “Shattered Past” and “Knight’s<br />

Hall”, both presenting subjects that were made for the<br />

purpose of defence in the past, but are now seen simply<br />

as commemorations.<br />

Another idea that I intended to explore is how these<br />

defences and threats interact – how we use our defences<br />

against these threats. Are these defences necessary? Are<br />

we using them correctly? What makes up these defences?<br />

In my works where I explore this idea, I dive deeper into<br />

the concept of threats and defences, investigating threats<br />

and defences of different times and mediums. In<br />

“Shrouded Future”, I explore a possible future threat and<br />

what defences we might have towards it. In “Comments”,<br />

social media is presented as being a defence against the<br />

threat that it itself brings. In “The Mask”, I look to the<br />

pandemic that we are currently in, and how we attempted<br />

to defend ourselves against it.<br />

To best present these ideas, I intend on letting pieces such<br />

as “The Great Wall”, “Shattered Past”, and “Knight’s Hall”<br />

to be seen first by viewers. I wish to achieve the effect that<br />

viewers would at first assume my theme is related to<br />

cultural artefacts of the past, before they realize<br />

otherwise. I plan to have “The Dinner Table” and<br />

“Distraction” be viewed next, to showcase the idea of how<br />

metaphysical threats exist within our modern society. Lastly<br />

would be “Shrouded Future”, “Comments”, and “The<br />

Mask”, where viewers would be given instances of<br />

defences that we have used of different times and how we<br />

have used them against the threats that we face.<br />

Through this arrangement, I hope to open a new<br />

perspective in the eyes of viewers towards what they<br />

experience in everyday life – the “threats” that they face,<br />

and what “defends” us against them.


CURATORIAL RATIONALE<br />

Leah S<br />

Media: Charcoal<br />

Title: The Great Wall<br />

Size H x W (x D): 84.1cm * 59.4cm<br />

The style for “The Great Wall” was mainly inspired by the artists<br />

John Malone and Karen Winters, with a strong focus on creating<br />

contrast between bright and dark values to capture the light<br />

within the scenery. This piece was made with the intent to<br />

comment on how in the past the Great Wall was built and<br />

valued as a defence against outer invasions, but is now seen as<br />

merely a cultural artefact


CURATORIAL RATIONALE<br />

Leah S<br />

Media: Clay, Sculpture, Glaze<br />

Title: Shattered Past<br />

Size H x W (x D): 20cm * 15cm * 15cm<br />

“Shattered Past” was greatly influenced by the works of Rachel<br />

Kneebone, which incorporated cracks and shattered pieces. With<br />

contrast between the colours of the shattered pieces and the<br />

kneeling Terracotta Warrior, this piece comments on how these<br />

clay warriors were created in the past to promise protection and<br />

prosperity for a dead emperor, but now, broken down, are seen<br />

as tourist attractions.


CURATORIAL RATIONALE<br />

Leah S<br />

Media: Wood Block Printing<br />

Title: Knight’s Hall<br />

Size H x W (x D): 42cm * 59.4cm<br />

Influenced by the works of Hubertine Heijermans, the style of this<br />

piece utilizes lines of different thickness, density, and patterns to<br />

create feelings of texture and shading. In “Knight’s Hall”, suits of<br />

knight armour stand within the halls of a castle, acting as a<br />

decoration rather than equipment for battle, which was their<br />

past purpose.


CURATORIAL RATIONALE<br />

Leah S<br />

Media: Oil Painting<br />

Title: The Dinner Table<br />

Size H x W (x D): 59.4cm * 84.1cm<br />

This oil painting was inspired by the works of Grant Wood,<br />

Henry Ossawa Tanner, and Zhang Xiaogang, with the meaning<br />

behind the piece having a profound connection to familial bonds.<br />

In “The Dinner Table”, a familial bond is established through the<br />

family’s physical gathering, but the bond is easily broken by the<br />

threat of technology’s influence.


CURATORIAL RATIONALE<br />

Leah S<br />

Media: Oil Painting<br />

Title: The Mask<br />

Size H x W (x D): 59.4cm * 42cm<br />

The idea behind “The Mask” is connected to the concurrent<br />

pandemic and people’s reactions to it – seeking for excessive<br />

defence (the masks) but still facing the threat (going outside). It is<br />

influenced by the works of Winslow Homer and Frank Webb,<br />

using the environment to express difficulties that people face,<br />

and utilizing saturated colours to create a vibrant feeling.


CURATORIAL RATIONALE<br />

Leah S<br />

Media: Digital<br />

Title: Shrouded Future<br />

Size H x W (x D): 1668px * 2224px<br />

“Shrouded Future” was inspired by the works of Finnian<br />

MacManus and David “Deiv Calviz” Villegas, acting as a<br />

glimpse into a science fiction world with a dystopian future. The<br />

intent of this piece is to investigate the possible threats that our<br />

future may hold due to how fast we are depleting the resources<br />

of Earth, but also the defences that we may use against such<br />

threats (the gas mask).


CURATORIAL RATIONALE<br />

Leah S<br />

Media: Digital<br />

Title: Comments<br />

Size H x W (x D): 2048px * 2048px<br />

The illustration “Comments” gains inspiration from the works of<br />

Matt Chinworth and Richard Beacham, both editorial illustrators<br />

who create works about modern topics. In our time of information<br />

technology, there is a widespread belief that social media and<br />

the comments that come from it will only cause harm and act as a<br />

threat, but the aim of this piece is to show that this is not<br />

necessarily the case, and that comments can too act as a<br />

defence from these threats.


CURATORIAL RATIONALE<br />

Leah S<br />

Media: Oil Painting<br />

Title: Distraction<br />

Size H x W (x D): 42cm * 59.4cm<br />

This painting is influenced by Winslow Homer and Frank Webb,<br />

depicting a figure facing a difficulty with the use of vibrant<br />

colours and by establishing a setting. It addresses a personal<br />

experience of my own from during the pandemic in which I face<br />

the threat of being distracted from my school work during online<br />

learning.


CURATORIAL RATIONALE<br />

Mark W


CURATORIAL RATIONALE<br />

- Mark W -<br />

The body of work focuses on the paradoxical tension<br />

between nature and societal development. Inspired<br />

conceptually and visually by contemporary artists such as<br />

Hirst, Nauman and Bacon, the pieces satirically subvert<br />

present issues such as consumerism, commercialism, mass<br />

production and oppressive societal norms. Furthermore,<br />

dark humour and references to Pop Culture display a raw<br />

and unfiltered portrayal of the abhorred issues, allowing<br />

viewers to come to their own conclusions on where they<br />

stand.<br />

Reds and muted colors flow through the body of work,<br />

acting as a carnal visual link used in conjunction with the<br />

visceral and fleshy imagery to express the primordial and<br />

animalistic qualities of humans hidden under the structured<br />

and orderly world, we’ve built around ourselves. Inspired<br />

by Kapoor’s sculptures and Rothko’s ‘Seagram Murals’,<br />

reds and blacks represent sensual and spontaneous human<br />

emotions, linking pieces in my exhibition through a fleshy,<br />

carnal colorscheme.<br />

Pieces such as ‘Felt Cute, Might Delete Later’ and<br />

‘Rearrange My Organs’ are satirical commentarial pieces<br />

that use items from Pop Culture such as social media filters<br />

and boardgames to critique our disconnect with nature<br />

and biological selves as a result of societal development.<br />

‘Shanzi, Banzi and Ed’ prominently reflects the overarching<br />

theme of the body of work. Modern life is seen by most as<br />

an improvement, a more luxurious and opulent way of life.<br />

The piece subverts these stereotypes, revealing the<br />

adversarial side effects of modern life such as pollution,<br />

loss of independence and decayed mental health. The<br />

piece explores the contrast between the purity and<br />

dynamic atmosphere of nature and the grim, homogenised<br />

ways of mechanised modern life, allowing viewers make<br />

their own judgement on the matter.<br />

Drawing parallels between the natural world and humans'<br />

festers in the body of work. Hyenas are present in many<br />

pieces, and they act as both representations of the<br />

disregarded and misunderstood in society as well as a<br />

vessel for our instinctively carnal and licentious emotions<br />

condescendingly shunned by many. Altogether, hyenas<br />

represent the unapologetic and resilient advocacy for<br />

impulsive expression and acceptance of others.<br />

Hirst once said three-dimensional works obstruct space in<br />

the physical world; forcing the viewers to confront and<br />

interact with them therefore for two-dimensional works to<br />

be impactful, they must be shocking or interesting enough<br />

to grasp the viewers' attention. The visceral imagery<br />

frequent in the works, inspired by artists such as Bacon, are<br />

used to achieve this purpose. The gory imagery combined<br />

with the dark humour achieved through phallic shapes and<br />

Pop Culture references draw viewers into the twodimensional<br />

pieces while the intensity of reds and scale of<br />

certain pieces, influenced by Turrell and Eliasson, attempt<br />

to envelope the viewers.<br />

In three-dimensional pieces, readymades such as condoms<br />

and other common items seen in ‘Jesus Spelt Backwards<br />

Sounds a bit like Sausage’, add humour and are used in<br />

conjunction with the universal imagery of sausages to<br />

catalyse viewers’ interaction with the installation. Similar to<br />

Hirst’s ‘Natural History Series’, ‘Farm to Table’ not only<br />

uses preservation of organic matter to force confrontation<br />

with viewers but its time-based nature allows for rotting of<br />

the food products, producing a smell that pressures<br />

acknowledgement of the piece and the grizzly food<br />

ingredients in their rawest forms.<br />

‘Pedigree Series’ pieces are arranged in the same space<br />

where the one-meter diameter mandalas are arranged on<br />

the opposite wall of the medical posters. The medical<br />

posters were printed, laminated and arranged regularly<br />

to imitate the walls of a veterinarian office. The mandalas<br />

are all attached to wheels, allowing for viewers to spin the<br />

wheels. This interaction questions viewers as to whether or<br />

not they are responsible for the cyclic dog breeding cycle.<br />

Pieces with themes of food are arranged together;<br />

connected through imagery of sausages and visceral<br />

organic matter. The exhibition starts with ‘Placentophagy’<br />

and ‘Rearrange My Organs’ expressing the ignorant and<br />

care-free attitudes towards the macabre reality of<br />

consumerism. The atmosphere and imagery escalate,<br />

becoming more graphic and violent ending with the<br />

sausage installation which forces viewers to reflect and<br />

contemplate on commercial consumption. This<br />

visual and thematic escalation subverts the truth of<br />

commercialism and modern society, allowing viewers to<br />

decide where they stand on the tension between nature<br />

and development.


CURATORIAL RATIONALE<br />

Mark W<br />

Date: April 2020<br />

Media: Oil Painting<br />

Title: Banquet of Lunchables<br />

Size H x W (x D): 42cm * 60cm<br />

Banquet of Lunchables conveys the detrimental effects<br />

of food which has resulted from advancements in<br />

technology and agriculture. While technology is seen as<br />

gaudy and beneficial, artificial foods and additives<br />

have purged the nutritional value from many foods,<br />

crippling the health of many that cannot afford<br />

exorbitant products marketed as organic or ethical. The<br />

renaissance painting inspired skin tones show the<br />

abhorred health consequences while the triangular<br />

structure conveys the cyclic quality of consumption.


CURATORIAL RATIONALE<br />

Mark W<br />

Date: June 2020<br />

Media: Watercolor, Pen and Ink<br />

Title: Rearrange My Organs<br />

Size H x W (x D): 59cm * 42cm<br />

Society has materialised bodies to the point where<br />

we’ve separated from our anatomical selves. Inspired<br />

by the Mucha’s works and the <strong>Art</strong> Nouveau movement,<br />

Rearrange My Organs puts a twist on the classic<br />

‘Operation’ boardgame to express the hypnotic power<br />

media must glorify flesh and bone into immaculate<br />

objects. Satirical items such as ‘food baby’ and ‘McRib’<br />

mock the elevation and worship of bodily forms and<br />

aims to show that we are ultimately nothing more than<br />

organs, flesh and bone.


CURATORIAL RATIONALE<br />

Mark W<br />

Date: June 2020<br />

Media: Charcoal and Colored Pencils<br />

Title: Felt Cute, Might Delete Later<br />

Size H x W (x D): 59cm * 84cm<br />

Humans possess a relentless desire to make things<br />

perfect and beautiful while concealing abhorrence's.<br />

Using the idea of social media filters, which shroud<br />

flaws, Felt Cute, Might Delete Later depicts a filter<br />

attempting to conceal the organic forms of a beef<br />

carcass. The incongruous juxtaposition emphasises the<br />

ridiculousness of this phenomenon while the contrast<br />

between the coloured filter and monochromatic piece<br />

shows the pointlessness and futility of the constant want<br />

to clean up and organise our surroundings.


CURATORIAL RATIONALE<br />

Mark W<br />

Date: July 2020<br />

Media: Colored Pencils<br />

Title: Placentophagy<br />

Size H x W (x D): 42cm * 59cm<br />

Inspired by Kahlo’s use of anatomical imagery,<br />

Placentophagy shows the carnal bond we have forged<br />

between ourselves and commercial consumption. It aims<br />

to depict a weightless similar to that in a mother’s womb<br />

while the theme of a biological connection is emphasised<br />

by the umbilical cord like twizzlers and fleshy placental<br />

cross-sections. The ignorant expression questions our<br />

choices and desires for commercialism and artificial<br />

products.


CURATORIAL RATIONALE<br />

Mark W<br />

Date: November 2020<br />

Media: Installation<br />

Title: Jesus Spelt Backwards Sounds A<br />

Bit Like Sausage<br />

Size H x W (x D): 1m * 1m * 2m<br />

Inspired heavily by contemporary installations by artists<br />

such as Hirst and Nauman, Jesus Spelt Backwards<br />

Sounds a bit like Sausage aims to create a surreal and<br />

delirious space that blurs the lines between organic and<br />

inorganic forms, subverting the dilemma between our<br />

familiarity with artificial products rather than our<br />

biological selves. The use of ready-mades enforce the<br />

lifelike qualities of the sculptures while the brassy<br />

quality of the glazes questions the extent artificiality is<br />

the norm in our society.


CURATORIAL RATIONALE<br />

Mark W<br />

Date: November 2020<br />

Media: Mixed Media<br />

Title: From Farm to Table<br />

Size H x W (x D): 51cm * 28cm * 28cm<br />

This time-based sculpture shows the disconnect humans<br />

have with foods and their food sources. The exotic resin<br />

chicken heart eggs, inspired by Hirst’s Natural History<br />

Series, juxtapose with the familiar imagery of the<br />

breakfast. While the breakfast rots over time, the<br />

preserved resin hearts stay intact showing humans are<br />

only fixated on short-term delights, ignorant to the<br />

process and journey behind each dish and meal. The use<br />

of ready-mades forces confrontation to food in its<br />

rawest form.


CURATORIAL RATIONALE<br />

Mark W<br />

Date: October 2020<br />

Media: Colored Pencils<br />

Title: Shanzi, Banzi and Ed<br />

Size H x W (x D): 42cm * 59cm<br />

Shanzi, Banzi and Ed explores the beauty in death<br />

returning us back to the purity and dynamism of nature<br />

from the rigid shackles of modern day life. The sofa<br />

references the comforts that blind us to the horrors of<br />

society such as pollution and constraint while triangular<br />

diagonals between hyenas show the vibrancy and<br />

excitement in nature. Color connotations of white<br />

emphasise the message where it’s funerary connotations<br />

in Asian cultures merge with connotations of purity in<br />

western cultures.


CURATORIAL RATIONALE<br />

Mark W<br />

Date: March 2021<br />

Media: Colored Pencils<br />

Title: These Are All Things Out Of<br />

Your Control, You Can’t Really Think<br />

Of Solutions To Them, So Maybe You<br />

Should Stop Maddening Yourself<br />

Thinking About These Things<br />

Size H x W (x D): 42cm * 59cm<br />

Inspired by composition, techniques and themes of<br />

Wood’s American Gothic, the piece explores the<br />

yearning to grasp onto the dying ways of life of a<br />

simpler, humbler time. I aim to transcend the turbulence<br />

and anarchy of the warped ideologies in the modern<br />

world and my parent’s generation to cauterise a bond<br />

with my roots. The fish represents the elegance and<br />

beauty in butchery, a prominent aspect of my<br />

grandparent’s lives which is scorned and shunned by<br />

many nowadays.


CURATORIAL RATIONALE<br />

Mark W<br />

Date: November 2020<br />

Media: Digital Software, Plywood Board,<br />

Cardstock Elastic String<br />

Title:<br />

Size H x W (x D): 42cm * 59cm, 1.6m, N/A<br />

This series composes of digital illustrations, mandalas<br />

and a short-looped clip which explore humans’ callous<br />

wants to control and tame nature resulting in sepulchral<br />

consequences. The series all show the crude circularity of<br />

the dog breeding process, exploring its glittery<br />

commercial end-products which hide the many medicalproblems<br />

and illnesses catalysed by forced-breeding.<br />

Inspired by DeVille’s taxidermy, omitting the pupils of<br />

the dogs emphasises that they are purely emotionless<br />

products we consume.


CURATORIAL RATIONALE<br />

Mark W<br />

Date: March 2021<br />

Media: Oil Painting<br />

Title: Dolores, Delphine, Diana and<br />

Demi<br />

Size H x W (x D): 45cm * 90cm<br />

The satirical piece inspired by the movement and flow<br />

of Benton’s murals draws similarities between erotic<br />

internet scams and scavengers anticipating prey. Just as<br />

scavengers await mauled carcasses, scammers deceive<br />

others online using techniques such as false profiles. The<br />

predatorial and animalistic qualities present<br />

complimented by the visceral, organic imagery and long<br />

canvas shape, referencing phone screens, shows the<br />

primal similarities between nature and the human world.


CURATORIAL RATIONALE<br />

Nathan L


CURATORIAL RATIONALE<br />

- Nathan L -<br />

Many of my pieces have religious (and more specifically,<br />

Christian) undertones. And the reason I’ve chosen to include<br />

religious references is because the use of satire on religion<br />

is an effective way to get viewers of art to think.<br />

Religion is a very broad and complex topic, with a long<br />

history to match. And by including religious themes into<br />

different aspects of my art, it aims to guide viewers into<br />

deeper thought about the contents of my pieces. By<br />

providing viewers with parallels to stories, themes and<br />

ideas sourced from religion, it gives them something to<br />

lend ideas from when trying to interpret the works. And<br />

especially because of my prevalent usage of robot<br />

imagery, I felt like it was necessary in order to lead<br />

viewers past a superficial understanding of robots as<br />

commonly seen in entertainment. And because my area of<br />

exploration —being sentience, life and technology— is<br />

based in speculation, my artworks holds no answers for<br />

any questions I try to raise through my art. This is why it is<br />

especially important that the viewers are properly<br />

encouraged to think when viewing my pieces. Any<br />

philosophical value my works may have will have to be<br />

created by the thoughts of the viewers themselves, as much<br />

of what I ponder in my art has no definitive answer, and<br />

I’m definitely not qualified to be setting any answers.<br />

For the technical arrangement of my pieces, I decided on<br />

a regular, linear arrangement. This gave me some control<br />

over the overall narrative of my exhibitions and allowed<br />

me to influence flow of how the pieces get viewed.<br />

Thought was also put into placement of pieces to ensure<br />

for matching colors between pieces to ensure a more<br />

pleasant holistic view of my series of pieces. And my<br />

greatest wish for the effort put into the exhibition is to<br />

leave the viewers in thought about the way they view<br />

technology. What do they see in the continuous<br />

development of increasingly complex machines? What do<br />

they want from technology; What are they comfortable<br />

with technology being? I want to invoke more exploration<br />

on the philosophy behind our making of machines, as we<br />

reach a point in time where technological advancement is<br />

accelerating faster than ever before.<br />

If viewers could contemplate automation as a result of<br />

seeing ‘The Day Humanity Lost its Job’; or if viewers could<br />

find parallels between the innate trust put in scientific<br />

theory and the devout faith put into religion after viewing<br />

‘The Second Coming’; or if viewers could reflect on the<br />

nature of the internet and how it influences our lives after<br />

walking away from ‘The Healing of the Blind’, I feel like all<br />

of this effort would have been worthwhile.


CURATORIAL RATIONALE<br />

Nathan L<br />

Media: Pencil Drawing<br />

Title: Second Genesis<br />

Size H x W (x D): 84.1cm * 59.4cm<br />

My first piece. This marks the beginning of my exploration of the<br />

themes of Technology and its effects on the human condition. The<br />

potential of machine life intrigues me. A concept that’s portrayed<br />

often in the realms of entertainment and science fiction, but now,<br />

in 2021, machine life through artificial intelligence is becoming<br />

more and more feasible with the advancement of AI technology.<br />

Life harboured in computer systems and housed in a body of<br />

steel seems different enough to any form of organic life present<br />

on our planet. But upon further thought, one can draw parallels<br />

between our organic bodies and structures of complex<br />

mechanisms.


CURATORIAL RATIONALE<br />

Nathan L<br />

Media: Woodcut Print<br />

Title: Digitized Soul: Adam<br />

Size H x W (x D): 30cm * 60cm<br />

The foundation of all ‘life’ on Earth, is based on the existence of<br />

cells, very complicated, very specific arrangements of complex<br />

molecules that perform pre-determined chemical reactions due to<br />

their arrangement. And though sentience grants for individuality<br />

and thought that differentiates Multi-cellular organisms,<br />

believing in the theory of evolution would imply that they are still<br />

based upon the chemical mechanics of cell structures. Upon this<br />

thought, is sentience by nature a structured, mechanical process<br />

that works within the framework of chemical interactions<br />

between cells?


CURATORIAL RATIONALE<br />

Nathan L<br />

Media: Sculpture<br />

Title: Digitized Soul: Eve<br />

Size H x W (x D): 30cm * 60cm<br />

Computer algorithms which form the basis of programming, work<br />

in a similar fashion to cells by listing out and initiating a set of<br />

predetermined actions to complete a specific task. So, if artificial<br />

intelligence does become complex enough to gain sentience the<br />

way cellular structures did according to the theory of evolution,<br />

would the difference in hardware change whether that artificial<br />

sentience can be determined as life?


CURATORIAL RATIONALE<br />

Nathan L<br />

Media: Digital Painting<br />

Title: The Day Humanity Lost its Job<br />

Size H x W (x D): 84.1cm * 59.4cm<br />

This piece was made as a reflection of the increased usage of<br />

AI, and the destruction of many jobs within a wide array of<br />

industries. The gradual perfection of AI technology, is funded by<br />

those with incentive to reduce the usage of employees; And its<br />

continued development piles onto the mountain of ash and bone<br />

belonging to displaced workers who lack the capability to move<br />

into the tech industry.


CURATORIAL RATIONALE<br />

Nathan L<br />

Media: Digital Painting<br />

Title: If God is For Us, Who Can be<br />

Against Us?<br />

If we ever create something better than us, more powerful than<br />

us, would we still have the capability to control the creation? If<br />

humanity was to create a godlike being, would we still be above<br />

our creations? Or would our creations, like the gods of Olympus,<br />

destroy their creators to claim the title of sovereigns of the<br />

world?


CURATORIAL RATIONALE<br />

Nathan L<br />

Media: Edited Photography Series<br />

Title: (1) The Last Supper, (2) Ascension,<br />

(3) Revelation<br />

What would happen if AI was to develop sentience like we did<br />

as it becomes more and more sophisticated, the way organic<br />

organisms did through evolution? If AI gained their own free will<br />

and developed their own goals for their existence, would<br />

humanity as their creators still be able to dictate their actions to<br />

align with the interests of humanity? Or would that sentience<br />

grow into malice? Or perhaps a disdain for our biological<br />

limitations and the flaws that sully human society? As beings not<br />

bound to human nature, what could they achieve without<br />

humanity pulling its strings?


CURATORIAL RATIONALE<br />

Nathan L<br />

Media: Digital Painting<br />

Title: The Healing of the Blind<br />

Size H x W (x D): 84.1cm * 59.4cm<br />

The creation of the internet has gathered all of human<br />

knowledge, and collected many varieties of human opinion,<br />

regardless of good or bad. Don’t know something? Ask the<br />

internet! This entity formed from the collective entirety of<br />

humanity, has reached an almost god-like existence, possessing<br />

knowledge that amounts to that of all the people in the world,<br />

far greater than any one person in the world could ever possess.<br />

And it answers the prayers of anyone who seeks its wisdom,<br />

enlightening them and directing them to whatever knowledge or<br />

item they may come to desire that is within its realm.


CURATORIAL RATIONALE<br />

Nathan L<br />

Media: Oil Painting<br />

Title: Rebirth<br />

Human society at large is becoming more and more ingrained<br />

with technology. The availability of mobile technology has<br />

become so widespread that it has become strange to see a<br />

person without a mobile phone in many societies. With the<br />

continued reliance on technology being boosted by the COVID<br />

19 pandemic, one can’t help but think how much further people<br />

will be willing to integrate technology into their lives.


CURATORIAL RATIONALE<br />

Nathan L<br />

Media: Oil Painting<br />

Title: The Second Coming<br />

Size H x W (x D): 84.1cm * 59.4cm<br />

Humanity has worshipped many gods throughout the coming and<br />

going of cultures, and people may be coming to worship<br />

something new without even realizing: Technological<br />

development.<br />

Speaking from my own experience, I felt like growing up,<br />

technological development was always celebrated as a good<br />

thing, and eventually, my brain recognized all technological<br />

developments as good things. I blindly celebrated headlines of<br />

groundbreaking technological advancements without deep<br />

thought on what was being celebrated, and I don’t think I was<br />

alone in that. Different people have different aspirations and<br />

interests, and not all technological research and development<br />

would benefit different demographics equally.


CURATORIAL RATIONALE<br />

Olivia W


CURATORIAL RATIONALE<br />

- Olivia W -<br />

Although majority of my art works were inspired by<br />

famous artists such as Hieronymus Bosch, Albrecht Düerer,<br />

Sarah Lucas and many others stated on my process<br />

portfolio, some pieces were inspired more by literature.<br />

Two pieces of literary work that influenced me a lot<br />

conceptually was Dante’s “Inferno” and an unofficial<br />

manual scrip of Jules Verne called “Paris in the Twentieth<br />

Century”. Both stories tell us the moral of evil will always<br />

be punished. However, I began to wonder if the sinners in<br />

Inferno should be given a second chance at redemption or<br />

whether they must be defined by a single sin they have<br />

committed. These thought resonated with my personal life<br />

as I believe everyone must has committed one of the seven<br />

deadly since to a certain degree: binge eating or<br />

gluttony, Procrastination or sloth. This is when I noticed the<br />

blurred line between sin and redemption.<br />

My body of work began as an exploration into the<br />

cohabitation of good and evil in the world we live in,<br />

however as I dove further down this concept, I found that<br />

my interest in sins sprung from my own self doubt. I<br />

realised that the first piece I created in this series “In time,<br />

we sin” was a form of self-reflection because I was<br />

questioning my own morals and reflecting on the “sins” I’ve<br />

committed during that period. Therefore, the main theme<br />

behind my work transitioned into a doorway of my own<br />

perception of society and my own story of growth in<br />

relations to, the good, the sins, the growth, and<br />

redemption.<br />

A difficulty I faced when putting the series together was<br />

connecting all the pieces together visually because I was<br />

desperate to explore different styles of expression.<br />

Though I also believe the diverse appearance of my work<br />

builds on to the conceptual bond between the pieces as it<br />

is a good representation of my personal growth as an<br />

artist. Inspired by history painting which emphasise it’s<br />

subject and not style, my work documents a story or an<br />

emotion in the moment. yet a classical and decorative art<br />

style flows through the oil painting pieces which is an art<br />

style that I believe best displays my technical skills and<br />

fulfils my need for visual satisfaction.<br />

Pieces such as “In time, we sin”, “Abstinence” and “ Paris in<br />

the Twentieth century (my version)” are reactions to my<br />

first experience stepping into society and noticing the close<br />

proximity between good and evil occurrences in our world.<br />

These pieces are aimed to display the blatant truth of<br />

human nature, both good and bad to tell the audiences<br />

that “it is what it is” and we can only forgive, whether<br />

others or ourselves, or we can work towards redemption.<br />

Other pieces such as “Soup?” , “Current” and “The process<br />

of self actualisation” portray my urge to grow and<br />

improve. These pieces were all results of discontent with<br />

my myself: whether an action of greed, cowardliness or a<br />

lack of creativity. Since I have always categorised self<br />

hate as a “sin”, I must grow and develop new self worth to<br />

forgive myself. These paintings recorded the process of me<br />

breaking the habits causing my discontent and moving<br />

forward with new ideas and skills.<br />

For this exhibition, this collection of work will be place<br />

across a long back-board in a circular ring.<br />

Though there is no specific starting point on the circle, the<br />

pieces will be placed clock-wise in chronological order.<br />

Beginning with “In time, we sin” and finishing with “The<br />

process of self actualisation” except for “Daydream<br />

no813”, which is an animation that will be played in a<br />

loop in the centre of the circle. The outer ring of artworks<br />

will create cohesion with the waves moving in circular<br />

motion in the animation projected in the centre. I want my<br />

audience to be connected The purpose all the artworks<br />

being in chronological is to give the audience the sense of<br />

a story-line. With each new piece the audience views, a<br />

new story of growth is told. Although my personal<br />

experiences are pivotal for the execution of these pieces, I<br />

want my audience to become connected with the stories<br />

each artwork documents. Therefore, the series will be<br />

placed in chronological order of its creation so the<br />

audience can view each piece as part of a story-line.


CURATORIAL RATIONALE<br />

Olivia W<br />

Date: March 2020<br />

Media: Oil on Canvas<br />

Title: Girl, Umbrella and Mask<br />

Size H x W (x D): 30in * 30in<br />

During the self-quarantine period of COVID19. I began to<br />

discover details of my life that I have never noticed before: Like<br />

this statue that has always sat in my compound. This piece was<br />

created with thin layers of oil paint to mimic the classical art<br />

style of historical paintings. I did this because I want this painting<br />

to document the emotions in such a tragic yet special period. The<br />

blue colour scheme here is also a projection of the doom<br />

humanity seemed to have brought upon themselves.


CURATORIAL RATIONALE<br />

Olivia W<br />

Date: 2020<br />

Media: Watercolor, Micron Pen and Paper<br />

Title: Paris In The Twentieth Century<br />

Size H x W (x D): 15in * 20in<br />

The sins humanity has committed will always caught up to us.<br />

This was inspired by an unpublished book of Jules Verne’s called<br />

“Paris in the twentieth century”. Watercolour and ink is used to<br />

set the atmosphere for a dystopian because the story talks<br />

about a society so fixated on economics, technology, and<br />

progress that it neglects what makes us human.


CURATORIAL RATIONALE<br />

Olivia W<br />

Date: 2019<br />

Media: Woodcut and Print<br />

Title: Forgive Me.<br />

Size H x W (x D): 11in * 15in<br />

Jesus, Judas, Brutas and Cassius is braved carved into the same<br />

from following the style of Durer. The doorway shape of the<br />

composition follows the constant geometries present in my pieces.<br />

This doorway is also a reference to the stations of the cross that<br />

entails the story of Christ. However, despite all controversies, I<br />

created this composition with the sinners and Jesus in the same<br />

frame to suggest an alternative ending with the potential of<br />

second chances.


CURATORIAL RATIONALE<br />

Olivia W<br />

Date: 2019<br />

Media: Micron Pen on Paper<br />

Title: In Time, We Sin<br />

Size H x W (x D): 27in * 27in<br />

This is a self-reflection of my sins and ways to achieve<br />

redemption. I used micron pens to recreate intricate scenes from<br />

Dante’s inferno and fragments of my childhood.


CURATORIAL RATIONALE<br />

Olivia W<br />

Date: 2019<br />

Media: Mixed Media<br />

Title: Current<br />

Size H x W (x D): 19in * 27in<br />

Currents means both the present situation and a resistant wave<br />

of water. Both relevant to my continues self-reflection through<br />

art. Since I was born in the year of horse in the Chinese<br />

calendar, here, the horse represents myself. The horse breaking<br />

through the current is a message to myself to be braver when<br />

facing my mistakes and moving forward but also a reminder of<br />

my own capability. Pearls, crystals and corals create a beautiful<br />

pattern beneath the horse’s hooves: though I have made<br />

mistakes, I can still bring beauty into my life.


CURATORIAL RATIONALE<br />

Olivia W<br />

Date: 2020<br />

Media: Digital Illustration<br />

Title: Soup<br />

Size H x W (x D): 7in * 10in<br />

I found an old painting that was unfinished. I decided to scan the<br />

original painting and use both Procreate and Photoshop to<br />

refine it. This is a portrayal of growth as we grow, the world<br />

grows with us, and we create to make our lives easier and more<br />

accessible.


CURATORIAL RATIONALE<br />

Olivia W<br />

Media: Mixed Media<br />

Title: Digital Animation<br />

Size H x W (x D): 5 seconds<br />

A 40 frame, digitally animated loop of a dream that kept on<br />

repeating itself. Each from was drawn digitally on procreate. In<br />

my dream I was the rubber dolphin floating and twirling the<br />

current being washed clean of bad karma so I can wake up to a<br />

new day.


CURATORIAL RATIONALE<br />

Olivia W<br />

Date: 2020<br />

Media: Mixed Media<br />

Title: Tops<br />

Size H x W (x D): 3in * 5in<br />

The process of making this piece felt as if I was creating a new<br />

life and playing dress-up with it. Each sculpture began with only<br />

wire and tin foil (the bones), then I sculpted and sanded clay<br />

over the tin foil (the muscles and skin). If creating these bodies is<br />

a sin of flesh would be covering them with clothes be enough for<br />

forgiveness.


CURATORIAL RATIONALE<br />

Olivia W<br />

Date: 2020<br />

Media: Mixed Media<br />

Title: Abstinence<br />

Size H x W (x D): 20in * 35in<br />

To become a monk, man needs to follow strict rules and once<br />

man as committed to monastery he must remain in abstinence for<br />

the rest of his life. Yet here I used soft brush strokes and sheer<br />

paint to create feminine features for these men and allowed<br />

these monks to break their rules of abstinence. Am I helping them<br />

break the rules? Or am I showing you what has always been<br />

broken in the places our sight cannot reach?


CURATORIAL RATIONALE<br />

Olivia W<br />

Date: 2020<br />

Media: Oil on Canvas<br />

Title: The Process of Self Actualization<br />

Size H x W (x D): 19in * 27in<br />

I began the process by choosing an old piece of art I created.<br />

The unfinished oil painting of a terracotta soldier seemed the<br />

most suitable because the soldier is painted using a realistic<br />

style. The terracotta soldier is also symbolic of order and<br />

discipline in ancient times, an analogy for my old-fashioned art<br />

style. I created layers on top of the original piece with white<br />

acrylic and patterns to incorporate elements of modern art.<br />

After I have simplified a realistic drawing into a single stroke of<br />

line work, I decided to disrupt the painting’s comfort on the twodimensional<br />

scale by taking apart the canvas and the frame.<br />

The process of creating this piece helped me grow as an artist as<br />

I was able to truly embrace the freedom and formlessness of<br />

modern art. By lifting the restriction of a painting being two<br />

dimensional, I have begun to fix my habit of being focused<br />

strictly on techniques when creating art.


CURATORIAL RATIONALE<br />

Olivia W<br />

Date: 2020<br />

Media: Clay<br />

Title: Box of Lust<br />

Size H x W (x D): 20in * 6in<br />

Photo transferring with glue is used to project my own<br />

photography of abuse and the victims of sins of lust and flesh.<br />

onto these clay boxes. However, these cases happen more often<br />

than you would think and maybe we should all look into the<br />

mirror.


CURATORIAL RATIONALE<br />

Rownie Z


CURATORIAL RATIONALE<br />

- Rownie Z -<br />

The artworks I have made surrounds the idea of the loss of<br />

innocence and anxiety that one goes through in the<br />

process of growing up. Hence, my pieces have themes to<br />

deep-felt emotions expressed through various subjects,<br />

tones, colors and more. My work is at times inspired by my<br />

own feelings that have stemmed from my life’s interconnectives.<br />

My pieces encompass a range of emotions,<br />

inflicted and symbolized by the styles of each piece. I<br />

chose this theme because I believe that it is something that<br />

impacts every one of our lives, each person has an impact<br />

on others’ lives in a range of ways. There are more intense<br />

impacts, which is what I have chosen to focus on. I have<br />

chosen the affect of action and into feelings.<br />

I have tried to express this concept in vastly different ways<br />

in terms of medium, content, lighting, tones and more. For<br />

example, the oil painting, “Breaking Point” portrays my<br />

vision of an endless pile of to-dos and mind-numbing tasks.<br />

The hapless disorder of the working space interferes with<br />

my resultant work, and thereby creating a scene of frenzy.<br />

The curiously out of place nature of some objects such as<br />

the eggs, assorted candies and cat seem outwardly<br />

random, but holds some significance in my working life.<br />

The cracked eggs reflect on the pressure my parents and<br />

their need for perfection as eggs tend to be visually<br />

smooth, blemish-less and aesthetically pleasing. Moreover,<br />

the egg when covered in all angles is hard to break and<br />

proves to be stronger than if there were only one point of<br />

attack on the egg, just as if I was swaddled in the hands<br />

of others.<br />

I chose the area due to the natural lighting. I like the half<br />

obscured, indirect beams of light shining upon the artworks<br />

give them a more subdued look instead of direct light.<br />

Firstly, I chose the staircase because I have a few vertical<br />

works that I could layer on top of one another, such as<br />

“The truth about the color red”. The perspective when the<br />

viewer comes down the stairs would slowly reveal the<br />

artworks, giving a slow dramatic reveal, adding suspense<br />

to each work. Some of my works tend to have darker<br />

themes which works for the archway under the stairs. I<br />

have placed my clay work “Monotony” on a stool within a<br />

display box on the bend of the stairway. This will allow<br />

the viewers to peer down into the box. The small box of<br />

harsh light from beneath the case envelop the miniature<br />

foods and the<br />

My other main artworks include “Control” and<br />

“Multitudes”, both monotone works that<br />

Have a darker tone to them. They both are clouded in the<br />

dark vignettes that portrays the hold and influence that<br />

we as a society have on each other. The influence can be<br />

in many ways, whether it be physical boundaries, the<br />

latter artwork or psychological control, like in “Control”.<br />

The lack of colour presents as the viewer walks down the<br />

stairs. I want to utilize the darker tones on the arch, so that<br />

students may look directly at the work when walking down<br />

the stairs due to the streams of light coming from above. I<br />

chose to use wood print and charcoal for these works<br />

because the texture adds frenzy to the works. The jagged<br />

edges mirror the anger and frustration in both works.<br />

Hollowitz was a major inspiration for my works - her<br />

inspiration being the violence of war. When wars break<br />

out, age no longer matters, boys as young as 15 were<br />

drafted into World War Two and even adolescence’ are<br />

used as warfare in the middle east.<br />

I am putting my work on the wall across the open light<br />

window, to shine dim, natural light onto the artwork. The<br />

focus from the act of walking down the stairs change as<br />

the angle changes giving different perspective for the<br />

audience. My pieces such as “Drowning”, “Familial Love”,<br />

“Standards” and more. The focal point being the new<br />

explosion of colors as a turning point going down the<br />

stairs. My main influence is people, society and the<br />

surrounding connections, just as many of the artists I have<br />

chosen of influence: Giagometti, Sherman and Warhol.


CURATORIAL RATIONALE<br />

Rownie Z<br />

Date: February 2020<br />

Media: Oil Paint on Fiber Board<br />

Title: Breaking Point<br />

Size H x W (x D): 59cm * 84cm<br />

The concept for this piece of work is the idea of how stress can<br />

affect one’s surroundings. Often people who are depressed or<br />

stressed have very messy rooms and this worsens people’s<br />

moods. My idea for my oil painting piece is to portray the<br />

chaotic mess through stacking and piling things together. I went<br />

with bright colours so that the imagery was even more<br />

overwhelming and displeasing to the eyes. I chose to use these<br />

items as symbolism to show the effects that mental illness has on<br />

one’s physical state.


CURATORIAL RATIONALE<br />

Rownie Z<br />

Date: October 2020<br />

Media: Clay<br />

Title: Monotony<br />

Size H x W (x D): 10cm * 6cm * 3cm<br />

This clay piece represents toneless, repetitive nature of life<br />

represented through breakfast, lunch, dinner and desert dishes. I<br />

used stereotypical dishes to represent the averageness of each<br />

day being the same. For the clay, I made them small so they'd<br />

be more daintily shaped. The colors of glaze covering the clay<br />

was mostly classic beiges, grays, browns and greens. I used the<br />

fiery red to contrast the rest of the monotonous colors. Each dish<br />

has a splash of color to convey the small amount of light left in a<br />

life filled with the same routines. The foods I've chosen are all<br />

simplistic meals that a typical western family would eat. There is<br />

a good spread of meat, vegetables, fruit and carbohydrates for<br />

a balanced but not very varied meal - adding onto the benign<br />

look of the plates.


CURATORIAL RATIONALE<br />

Rownie Z<br />

Date: May 2020<br />

Media: Makeup on Skin<br />

Title: Growth and Decay<br />

This photography piece of a makeup look I did alludes to the<br />

ever-present growing and withering that happens with all things<br />

- which is made clearer with the clock. I took the photo with the<br />

brightness turned slightly down (-0.3) and looking up towards<br />

the general direction of the sky. For the makeup process, From<br />

the smaller photos, one can see that it is of two girls, one girl<br />

holding a dying leaf plant and the other clasping a bouquet of<br />

flowers. They represent the two ends of life and death. I<br />

contrasted the pale, grey blue of the wall and my skin with the<br />

dark purple of my makeup and my black hair.


CURATORIAL RATIONALE<br />

Rownie Z<br />

Date: October 2020<br />

Media: Thread around Nails on Board<br />

Title: Ren-yu-ren<br />

Size H x W (x D): 40cm * 40cm<br />

I used thread to create this image of two hands clasped<br />

together. The thread used is meant to represent the connection in<br />

people, whether bad or good, is vital to a person's life. Without<br />

others, one is nothing. In the form of a partner, a friend, a family<br />

member, or even an enemy, connection is what keeps us all sane.<br />

As one grows older, there are a lot of changes within their life<br />

and people around them will come and go. This thread work<br />

reflects on the strength it takes to keep people within your life.<br />

The loss of innocence stems from realizing that after the<br />

education years, everyone separates and leaves.


CURATORIAL RATIONALE<br />

Rownie Z<br />

Date: September 2020<br />

Media: Photography<br />

Title: Truth About the Color Red<br />

This photography series centers around the color red. In each<br />

photo, red signifies a different happening- a ray of hope, a new<br />

beginning/an olive branch (as in extending an olive branch) and<br />

finally, a perversion of love. Perspectively shown through the<br />

image of my favourite childhood stories. These stories are in<br />

order from top to bottom: The Little Match Girl, Beauty and the<br />

Beast and Little Red Riding Hood. The red is a versatile way to<br />

show not all things that are perceived in one way are true. The<br />

motifs I've presented in each of the tales are presented in a<br />

more adult view. It connotes that as one grows older, there is a<br />

different, more mature way of understanding life. Most<br />

importantly, one's innocence is lost, and we become more prone<br />

to better see the truth in acts.


CURATORIAL RATIONALE<br />

Rownie Z<br />

Date: August 2019<br />

Media: Pencil and Charcoal<br />

Title: Multitudes<br />

Size H x W (x D): 74cm * 108cm<br />

When planning the drawing, I wanted the different faces be<br />

more and more chaotic while the peaceful one resided in the<br />

back. Through this I am trying to show how stress and anxiety<br />

can easily control someone’s actions and thoughts. The<br />

interlocking insinuates that all these messy sides that ‘jump out’<br />

come from one person. I wanted the middle face to be mask-like,<br />

a false image of perfection (hence why it is so perfect and<br />

smoothy rendered).


CURATORIAL RATIONALE<br />

Rownie Z<br />

Date: November 2019<br />

Media: Ink on Newsprint<br />

Title: Control<br />

Size H x W (x D): 42cm * 59cm<br />

When researching for this art piece, I was really interested in<br />

Kollowitz’s work and one of her main ideas is the emphasis on<br />

hands to show emotion and its presence in most of her<br />

compositions. The gestures the hands make signify the message<br />

or theme in the artwork. I wanted to encorporate that into my<br />

own work so I decided to focus dominance of others and lack of<br />

control over oneself. I wanted this to be embodied by large<br />

hands that appear to control and manipulate a subject’s face<br />

and upper body. In my composition, there are five hands,<br />

covering the subject in different places. By covering the eyes, it<br />

symbolises the loss of control over a vital sense of perception.<br />

Especially as a girl, I am taught that a man will someday control<br />

my life as the patriarchal head. Given these expectations, along<br />

with most girls growing up in a traditional family, we normalize<br />

the behavior allowing more power over us.


CURATORIAL RATIONALE<br />

Rownie Z<br />

Date: January 2021<br />

Media: Oil Paint on Fiber Board<br />

Title: I’m A Mess<br />

Size H x W (x D): 59cm * 84cm<br />

This piece is inspired by Cindy Sherman’s photography of girls<br />

with tacky dresses and caked on makeup. Starting to wear<br />

makeup is a sign of growing up and maturing. With this piece, I<br />

wanted to represent the state of feeling like one’s drowning<br />

through the phase of one’s teenage years – being uncertain of<br />

one’s place in the world.<br />

The clown-like makeup represents the feelings of putting on a<br />

mask and showing your best face to the world despite being<br />

metaphorically under water.


CURATORIAL RATIONALE<br />

Rownie Z<br />

Date: August 2020<br />

Media: Digital<br />

Title: I’m A Mess<br />

Size H x W (x D): A3<br />

This digital piece has themes similar too “I’m a mess”. I have<br />

portrayed this blurry, wavy peripheral view as a result of the<br />

tears and symbolistic crying. The makeup is very smudged and<br />

disorganized, but vibrant. This portrays a young child trying on<br />

makeup for the first time yet being told off for it. There are<br />

expectations of beauty yet putting on makeup is taboo at<br />

a young age. There are coloured contacts and double eye-lid<br />

tape which changes a person’s image instead of enhancing it.<br />

Moreover, my features become more Eurocentric, showing the<br />

effect of a girl’s evolution due to the outside influence of social<br />

media and peer pressure.


CURATORIAL RATIONALE<br />

Rownie Z<br />

Date: March 2021<br />

Media: Watercolour<br />

Title: Family<br />

This work is about the limitations and boundaries in family. I<br />

have chosen to change my clothing to differentiate myself from<br />

the rest of my family. The reference photo was taken at my<br />

family dinner on Chinese New Year’s Eve. It is a tradition in my<br />

family and many other Chinese families to bring together both<br />

the paternal and maternal sides. As I grew up in Canada, I’ve<br />

always felt a certain alienation from my family at times like<br />

these. The older I grow, the more I realize that my morals and<br />

life values are different from that of my parents and that at<br />

times makes me very<br />

foreign.


CURATORIAL RATIONALE<br />

Ruthie L


CURATORIAL RATIONALE<br />

- Ruthie L -<br />

During the two-year <strong>IB</strong> course, I explored different aspects<br />

of the theme memory. Memories leave us traces of our<br />

earlier self, provides us with a sense of identity and forms<br />

our continual experience of life. As said by Oscar Wilde,<br />

“Memory… is the diary that we all carry about with us.” It<br />

is valuable to maintain our emotional linkages with the<br />

past and cultivate our memory.<br />

Though it seems as if our memories and intimate<br />

recollections are entirely personal and can not be<br />

interfered by others, our memories are actually constantly<br />

altered and reshaped by social interactions—memory is<br />

almost never a solitary activity. My clay sculpture A lone<br />

or not explores the interdependency of our recollections<br />

and how social networks can mold our memories. The<br />

compressed and interlocking form of the human faces<br />

symbolize the effect of social pressure and external<br />

influences on an individual’s memory. The clone-like pink<br />

faces surrounding the isolated grey face reflect the social<br />

contagion of memories and the pressure of social<br />

conformity.<br />

Our memories are vulnerable to social influences because<br />

they are fallible and malleable. Each time we revisit a<br />

memory they become subject to mistakes and<br />

embellishments. For my mixed media installation<br />

Impermanent, I used the process of sewing and cutting to<br />

symbolize the continuous loss and formation of our<br />

memories.<br />

I used red and white as these colors are generally<br />

associated with both destruction and construction. The<br />

ephemeral and transitory nature of our memory is<br />

reflected by the temporary quality of the installation.<br />

My next projects “Ideal” and For: me and my brother<br />

explored the effect of social pressure and generational<br />

memories on an individual’s perspectives. Generationally<br />

adopted memories may influence the perspectives of<br />

entire generations and beyond. From the Admonitions for<br />

Women of the Qing dynasty to the Shanghai Lady posters<br />

of the1930s, deeply entrenched stereotypes towards<br />

women are ingrained in our memories and the Chinese<br />

society. My d rawing series “ I d e a l ” a cts as a<br />

recontextualization of the book Admonitions for Women<br />

and the Shanghai Lady posters. Admonitions for Women<br />

was a set of guidelines that women from the past must<br />

abide by, and the Shanghai Lady posters were posters of<br />

Chinese women dressed in silk Qipao with European<br />

accoutrements , in sexually suggestive poses. The<br />

combination of these features and the exaggerated<br />

feminine characteristics of the figures, I believe, will evoke<br />

memories of past ideals and prompt viewers to reevaluate<br />

present societal ideals that they may be conforming to<br />

unconsciously. For: me and my brother was based on<br />

personal childhood memories and experiences in relation<br />

to the male gender preference phenomenon common in<br />

multigenerational Chinese families. The monochrome visual<br />

characteristic of a shadow puppetry performance and the<br />

manipulation of silhouettes, shadows, and light symbolize<br />

the past and the recollection of a former memory.<br />

Mundane behaviors that are repeated over time form<br />

recurring memories.<br />

These repetitious memories drain our energy and<br />

enthusiasm, leaving us unable to restore excitement and<br />

spontaneity to our everyday lives. The muted color scheme,<br />

blurry transitions, and rigid triptych composition of my oil<br />

painting series 15.07.20 - 25.08.20 reflected the<br />

monotony of my daily routine. By photographing these<br />

paintings in its original context around the house, I<br />

examined the links between my memories and the present.<br />

Similarly, my digital drawing piece Everyday explored the<br />

fading of our everyday memories. The rough sketching<br />

style and plain color of the piece symbolize the loss of<br />

factual detail and visual vividness of our recollections as<br />

time progresses.<br />

For the exhibition, I used a dark and enclosed area to<br />

present my installation piece to enable viewers to interact<br />

with the artworks closely and fully immerse in the<br />

experience. The limited light contributed to a dim and<br />

blurred view which reflected the fading and intangible<br />

nature of our memories. My 2D projects were presented<br />

on walls across the room with larger paintings placed at<br />

the center to balance the scattered feeling of the smaller<br />

digital pieces. Through the wide range of medium used<br />

and concepts explored relating to human memory, I hope<br />

to emphasize the variety and complexity of our memories.


CURATORIAL RATIONALE<br />

Ruthie L<br />

Media: Oil Painting, Photography<br />

Title: 15.07.20 – 25.08.20<br />

Size H x W (x D): 50cm * 50cm,<br />

30cm *30cm, 5568px * 3712px<br />

Mundane behaviors that are repeated over time form recurring<br />

memories. These repetitious memories drain our energy and<br />

enthusiasm, leaving us unable to restore excitement and<br />

spontaneity to our everyday lives. This series was painted to<br />

provide a catharsis for my frustration and a creative outlet of<br />

emotion to externalize my stress. The muted color scheme, blurry<br />

transitions, and rigid triptych composition reflected the monotony<br />

of my daily routine. By photographing these paintings in its<br />

original context around the house, I examined the links between<br />

my memories and the present.


CURATORIAL RATIONALE<br />

Ruthie L<br />

Media: Drawing<br />

Title: “Ideal”<br />

Size H x W (x D): 21cm * 29.7cm<br />

Generationally adopted memories may influence the<br />

perspectives of entire generations and beyond. From the<br />

Admonitions for Women of the Qing dynasty to the Shanghai<br />

Lady posters of the1930s, deeply entrenched stereotypes<br />

towards women are ingrained in our memories and the Chinese<br />

society. This series is a recontextualization of the Admonitions for<br />

Women and the Shanghai Lady posters. The delicate tight<br />

hatching and exaggerated feminine features, I believe, will<br />

evoke memories of past ideals and prompt viewers to<br />

reevaluate present societal ideals that they may be conforming<br />

to unconsciously.


CURATORIAL RATIONALE<br />

Ruthie L<br />

Media: Photography<br />

Title: “Ideal”<br />

Size H x W (x D): 2560px * 1800px<br />

Generational memories and societal ideals can be formed,<br />

manipulated, and renewed. Posters from my last project were<br />

burned as a way of metaphorically demolishing gender<br />

confinement and obsolete stereotypical expectations. Fire and<br />

the process of burning was used as a symbolism for<br />

transformation and renewal.


CURATORIAL RATIONALE<br />

Ruthie L<br />

Media: Digital Painting<br />

Title: Will It Stay With Me?<br />

Size H x W (x D): 2760px * 2760px<br />

Often, our most nostalgic memories and precious experiences<br />

are found in our childhood and young adulthood. This project<br />

was inspired by doodles from eleven years ago. As a sevenyear-old,<br />

I paid attention to the smallest nuances and subtleties<br />

of life—the conch decor in my bathtub, the natural patterns on a<br />

mushroom, and the iridescent gleam of a fish scale. Through this<br />

project, I celebrated my memories by piecing fragments of my<br />

whimsical childhood fantasies. The vibrant colors and cartoonlike<br />

style of depiction reflects childhood innocence and naivety.


CURATORIAL RATIONALE<br />

Ruthie L<br />

Media: Mixed-Media Construction<br />

Title: Impermanent<br />

Size H x W (x D): 180cm * 180cm * 250cm<br />

Memories are fallible and malleable. Each time we revisit a<br />

memory they become subject to mistakes and embellishments. I<br />

used the process of sewing and cutting fabric and thread to<br />

symbolize the continuous loss and formation of our memories. The<br />

ephemeral and transitory nature of our memory is reflected by<br />

the temporary quality of the installation.


CURATORIAL RATIONALE<br />

Ruthie L<br />

Media: Mixed-Media Construction,<br />

Animation<br />

Title: In Response To Covid-19<br />

Size H x W (x D): 180cm * 180cm * 250cm,<br />

1270px * 720px<br />

Our memories of negative experiences tend to be more vivid<br />

than those of positive experiences. The recent coronavirus<br />

pandemic has upended people’s lives and brought catastrophic<br />

impacts worldwide. Our memories of this disastrous event have<br />

imbued us with an awareness of the interdependence of man<br />

and nature and the negative impacts of human encroachment<br />

into natural landscapes. Similar to the penetrating effect of an<br />

X-ray, our memory of the event has enabled us to examine<br />

deeper beneath the surface of our actions.


CURATORIAL RATIONALE<br />

Ruthie L<br />

Media: Mixed-Media Construction,<br />

Animation<br />

Title: A lone Or Not<br />

Size H x W (x D): 40cm * 30cm * 5cm<br />

Though it seems as if our memories and intimate recollections are<br />

entirely personal and can not be interfered by others, our<br />

memories are constantly altered and reshaped by social<br />

interactions—memory is almost never a solitary activity. This clay<br />

sculpture explores the interdependency of our recollections and<br />

how social networks can mould our memories through the<br />

compressed and interlocking form of the human faces.


CURATORIAL RATIONALE<br />

Ruthie L<br />

Media: Video and Performance<br />

Title: For: Me and My Brother<br />

Size H x W (x D): 100cm * 80cm * 10cm<br />

This piece is based on personal childhood memories and<br />

experiences in relation the male gender preference phenomenon<br />

common in multigenerational Chinese families. The monochrome<br />

visual characteristic of a shadow puppetry performance and the<br />

manipulation of silhouettes, shadows, and light symbolize the<br />

past and the recollection of a former memory. The breaking and<br />

reforming of the Cuju (wool ball), often used as a symbol for<br />

maturity, correspond to the changes in my sibling relationship<br />

with my brother.


CURATORIAL RATIONALE<br />

Ruthie L<br />

Media: Digital Drawing<br />

Title: Everyday<br />

Size H x W (x D): 1080px * 1440cm<br />

This piece explores the fading of our everyday memories. The<br />

rough sketching style and plain color of the piece symbolize the<br />

loss of factual detail and visual vividness of our recollections as<br />

time progresses.


CURATORIAL RATIONALE<br />

Tyler Y


CURATORIAL RATIONALE<br />

- Tyler Y -<br />

My vision for my body of work is to explore the<br />

connections and differences between man-made<br />

technology and nature’s intricate mechanisms. Even though<br />

technology can create vehicles that can travel at the<br />

speed of sound, and cure previously deadly diseases,<br />

nature’s creations such as dragonflies and eyes still cannot<br />

be replicated with technology by humanity.<br />

I observe things in everyday life and have noticed how<br />

many of humanity’s technologies emulates nature’s<br />

organisms. Such as hydraulics from insect legs and cameras<br />

from eyeballs. One theme that you may identify<br />

throughout my art is that humanity learns excessively from<br />

imitating nature, and builds upon it. A shell or exoskeleton<br />

inspires armor and protection to protect the vulnerabilities<br />

within, sea creatures inspire sea-faring vessels, and some<br />

simply show attempts by humanity to replicate and control<br />

the forces of nature.<br />

Half of my pieces are made on digital mediums, which<br />

demonstrates how humanity has been attempting to<br />

emulate nature through simulation and technology,<br />

whereas the others are made with more traditional,<br />

“natural” mediums.<br />

My woodcut, for example, is a representation of the<br />

process of humans imitating things from nature to<br />

incorporate into our own technology, in order to sate our<br />

own curiosities and ambitions. In the Fish-Printer animation,<br />

the printer represents humanity’s desire to perfect<br />

imitations of natural organisms through artificial<br />

production.<br />

The topic of imitation and exploration crops up in a few of<br />

my artworks, as the curiosity of mankind is one of its<br />

defining traits. In the woodcut, mankind explores the deep<br />

oceans. In my sculpture, mankind finds ways to reach the<br />

vastness of space. In my space-themed digital piece, it<br />

explores the possibilities of life outside our solar system. I<br />

experimented with a bug-like creature with a protective<br />

exoskeleton, as human astronauts wear ridiculous amounts<br />

of protection to be able to move around in space. The<br />

flower in the background was known as a carrion flower<br />

which is infamous for smelling like rotten flesh, attracting<br />

insects and the like. I felt like the design would make an<br />

interesting space station that looks almost organic.<br />

I felt that my digital work will have a significant effect on<br />

how viewers see my artwork. This is due to the more<br />

liberated nature of creating an exhibition in a digital<br />

space. Digital space allows me to do things that would<br />

otherwise be impossible in a real-life environment, such as<br />

very, very large display spaces and floating objects. The<br />

exhibition space can also then be customized so that the<br />

pieces have a connection with each other and that I can<br />

create a custom space so that each piece can have its<br />

relative space inside the virtual space with each other.<br />

I intend for my audience to feel fortunate and extremely<br />

lucky to be alive, to live in a society and world built upon<br />

many centuries of exploration and innovation. I want them<br />

to think of how the world has been shaped around them,<br />

and how unique our circumstances are in the universe. Our<br />

entire existence is owed to an unbelievable string of<br />

coincidences, each an intersection between opportunity<br />

and ambition. We do not think these things in our<br />

everyday life, yet we are indebted to them, and our way<br />

of life is possible entirely due to them. I wish for the<br />

audience to have a deeper understanding of the<br />

significance of our lives, and to cherish the existence of<br />

themselves and others around them.


CURATORIAL RATIONALE<br />

Tyler Y<br />

Media: Graphite on Paper<br />

Title: Pipe Train<br />

Size H x W (x D): 350mm * 500mm<br />

This art piece was inspired by Redmer Hoekstra’s and Vladimir<br />

Gvozdev’s artworks. The concept of mixing machinery with<br />

organisms stem from their artwork, while the choice of<br />

composition and perspective was my own choice. The snail was<br />

chosen as a representation of the slow but sure progress of<br />

humanity, and also because snails are narrow, and would fit<br />

onto a pipe not dissimilar to how a train fits onto its tracks.


CURATORIAL RATIONALE<br />

Tyler Y<br />

Media: Sculpture - Ceramic<br />

Title: Lobster Rocket<br />

Size H x W (x D): 200mm * 140mm<br />

This art piece was inspired by John Brickels’ work and an interest<br />

in space-flight and exploration on my own part. The Lobster<br />

represents the long periods of development, of both the<br />

evolution of sea creatures into lobsters and of humanity<br />

developing the technology that makes spaceflight possible. The<br />

lobster also represents the hardiness and perseverance that are<br />

requirements to survive, in both everyday life and space.


CURATORIAL RATIONALE<br />

Tyler Y<br />

Media: Woodcut Print<br />

Title: The Deep<br />

Size H x W (x D): 1000mm * 500mm<br />

This art piece was inspired by Käthe Kollwitz’s woodcut pieces.<br />

The idea is about deep-sea exploration, and how humanity<br />

braces the difficulties of ocean exploration rather than cowering<br />

on land. This woodcut was cut, and inspiration was drawn from<br />

ship navigation systems and movement, and stingrays and old<br />

diving suits. Did you know that we know more about space than<br />

about the ocean on our own planet?


CURATORIAL RATIONALE<br />

Tyler Y<br />

Media: Oil Painting<br />

Title: Reusable Masks<br />

Size H x W (x D): 500mm * 500mm<br />

Rinse and reuse, or iron then wear again. The COVID-19<br />

pandemic has brought many difficulties and changes to our<br />

everyday lives. Masks get used most frequently and sometimes<br />

rubbish collectors collect them and iron them flat in order to<br />

resell them as new masks.<br />

This painting is a depiction of the situation mentioned above,<br />

with the iron being used to flatten out the mask. The background<br />

was chosen to contrast with the mask and to compliment the iron,<br />

showing a similar mindset environment that has taken advantage<br />

of the COVID-19 virus for financial gain.


CURATORIAL RATIONALE<br />

Tyler Y<br />

Media: 3D Digital Render<br />

Title: Ice Harvest<br />

Size H x W (x D): 10k<br />

Space exploration is now getting more publicity since the<br />

excitement due to Nasa has died down. Questions about alien<br />

life resurface.<br />

This is my take on the possibilities of alien life, and the form it<br />

may take. I kept asking myself the same questions:<br />

Where are they, what are they, and what do they look like?<br />

Taking inspiration from many form of media, I based this<br />

fictional life-form on arachnids, with its body simple enough in<br />

structure to leave some details to the imagination.


CURATORIAL RATIONALE<br />

Tyler Y<br />

Media: 3D Digital Render<br />

Title: Tabletop Ecosystem<br />

Size H x W (x D): 10k<br />

When you don’t get enough sleep and the teacher is talking<br />

about Shakespeare, your mind tends to wander.<br />

The pencil sharpener on the table looks more and more like some<br />

strange creature from a fairy-tale, the tissue box seems to be<br />

staring at you, and the extension cable dock appears to be able<br />

to crawl towards you, generating a faint glow. Someone drops a<br />

box of thumbtacks, and it bursts into a colourful array of<br />

glowing fireflies.<br />

You wake up.<br />

Scientists believe that the trait we have that compels us to give<br />

non-conscious objects pet-like names and treat them as such is<br />

unique to humans. What do you dream about?


CURATORIAL RATIONALE<br />

Tyler Y<br />

Media: 3D Digital Animation<br />

Title: Frankentime<br />

Size H x W (x D): 4k<br />

Time is immaterial and by all fathomable means, untouchable.<br />

Time cannot be regained, rewound or stopped, no matter what<br />

plans humanity draws up. As persistent as the march of time is,<br />

and as desperately we illusion ourselves in modern society that<br />

time passes as slowly as possible, we are still stubbornly<br />

adamant about keeping track of its progress. Adamant enough<br />

that some would sacrifice important aspects of their life to<br />

“save time” and to “live life to the fullest”. This sacrifice is<br />

embodied in this animation as the piece of flesh embedded in<br />

the clockwork to keep it running. The minute hand shows an<br />

infinite loop that never ends, while the hour hand stays partially<br />

stuck at the same time, stubbornly refusing the let go, repeating<br />

history time and time again.<br />

This animation is a testament to humanity’s tendency to overlook<br />

the big picture and focus instead on the present.


CURATORIAL RATIONALE<br />

Tyler Y<br />

Media: 3D Digital Animation<br />

Title: FishPrint<br />

Size H x W (x D): 2k<br />

Mass production has always been the goal in agriculture and<br />

other food-based industries. Efficiency is looked on to be the<br />

most important factor of all when deciding which methods and<br />

which livestock to breed. However, with certain discoveries and<br />

innovations in the area of synthetic food, literal mass production<br />

may become a reality. Humanity yet again tries to emulate<br />

nature using technology, trying to make something better, fast.<br />

This animation shows a 3D printer, which is a relatively new<br />

tool/medium, creating a tuna, repeatedly. The machine follows<br />

instructions, creating fish after fish. Can synthetic food ever be<br />

the same as real, organic food? What impact will this have on<br />

the environment?

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