artist
Dog Days, HARTA, Selangor
1 - 20 August 2024
Dog Days is about the black dog as a metaphor for depression. I have chosen to depict instances of peculiar canine behaviour that I have observed in my own dog as a way of exploring what ‘strangeness’ means. Filtered through the lens of human expectation, the strangeness of a dog may simply point to the parts of its existence that have been lost in translation. This is perhaps true of the experience of depression as well – strangeness, as taken to mean unexpected, rather than unnatural or abnormal.
Accompanying Essay: PDF
Publication: PDF
Curated by Studio Sayang
Dog/Walk, 2024
exhibited as part of Dog Days @ HARTA, Selangor
1 - 20 August 2024
Dog/Walk is an extension to the oil and paper collage work Needs Must. This project documents the ways in which the black dog has existed and continues to exist in my life - in the guise of the pet dog I live with, as well as the one that resides in my head. I photographed each individual collage panel comprising Needs Must in specific locations from my past and present. These locations, spanning three countries and four cities, were chosen for being places where I have encountered the black dog, in its literal or otherwise metaphorical form.
The Re-Collection Project: An Exercise In Learning, HARTA, Ampang
29 November - 29 December 2024
The late Yusof Gajah once compared the ubiquitous presence of elephants in his works to a bowl of rice: "You can make fried rice or eat it plain... my elephants can do more and more.*" Like many animals, elephants inhabit a wide range of roles across various domains of human culture. We caress and cage and tell tales and trade these beings that are both familiar and foreign to us.
WYSIWYG (What You See Is What You Get) is an interactive video installation that responds to a drawing by Yusof Gajah displayed in the centre panel. The work explores 5 distinct ways of considering the elephant — from venerated subject to objectified entertainment. By turning a dial, viewers can switch between these different perspectives that coexist at the same time.
Given the rich and complex relationship that we have with elephants, the simple image of the animal confronts us with layers of associations. What you see is what you get, and yet, what you get is so much more.
*Chin, G. (2009) ‘Elephant Man’, The Edge, 27 September
