Friendly Strangers Party, Michael Lee, 2019

Over the past few years, Michael Lee has been examining the potentials and intricacies embedded within urban existence. His focus delves into ideas of anonymity, acceptance and empathy, serving as a resistance to prevailing currents of hyperindividualism and competition. Anchored by these concerns, A Place for Nobody unfolds through three works that harness drawing, text and diagram to highlight the peculiarities and nuances of communication, language and social roles in understanding and interpreting everyday realities.

Positioned adjacent to the escalator, My Garden is a mural of illustrations depicting things that hold personal significance for Lee. Spaced equally apart, each icon assumes the same value, symbolising the artist’s deliberate decision not to assign them a hierarchy.

Friendly Strangers Party takes the form of pennant flags that revisits the words or actions of people whose identities the artist never ascertained but have touched him in one way or another. These flags invite fresh perspectives on the transient interactions in our lives. Finally, through the diagrammatic presentation of Anybody, Everybody, Nobody, Somebody, Lee reflects on various social roles and their intricate interplay and overlaps.

A Place for Nobody revels in the quiet existence and implicit connections of our daily lives. The works think about how living in a city structures human thought, feelings, actions and creates space for shared well-being.

Venue: Esplanade Mall Level 3 Community Wall

When: 29 Sep 2023 - 7 Jan 2024,

By: Esplanade