The Lie of the Land is a group exhibition of six Singaporean artists, Lavender Chang, Ong Si Hui, Grace Tan, Wyn-Lyn Tan, Zen Teh, Ian Woo.
The premise of the exhibition has not changed: to understand the features and characteristics of a place or the current state of affairs, we often need to, both literally and metaphorically, conduct investigations, surveys leading to the eventual assessments. The exhibition is a review of what makes up this country: its history, its peoples, its natural and constructed landscapes, its values, its nuances. The title is also a double entendre: with different lenses and the passage of time, perspectives on said place often blur or shift.
Ong Si Hui’s text sculpture in marble Boats Against the Current, borrows from the closing sentence of F. Scott Fitzgerald’s novel The Great Gatsby — ‘So we beat on, boats against the current, borne back ceaselessly into the past’. This work was conceptualised to reflect upon the condition of limitations: small broken pieces of stones were hand carved and the 21 fragmented negative spaces linked up to reveal the phrase. It is especially poignant for a city state with absolutely no natural resources to speak of except for its population descended from immigrants; its early independence as brittle and fragile as marble.
Living in Singapore since she was a teenager and now a naturalised Singapore citizen, Taiwan-born Lavender Chang only realised the deep-seated dualities in her own identity in adulthood. This has led her to explore the complex issue of identity in her practice, like her series A Dissection Of…… A simple question was posed to friends “What’s your favourite hawker dish?”. Chang then photographed each cooked ingredient from the respective dishes, separated like specimens. With each telling in the form of a handwritten text by the interviewee under the images, Chang’s own questions are vicariously answered by others and in doing so, foster a deeper sense of belonging to her adopted country.
Venue: FOST Gallery, 1 Lock Road, #01-02, Gillman Barracks, Singapore 108932
When: 6 Aug - 17 Sep 2022, Tue–Sat: 11am–7pm
By: FOST Gallery
