Hemming (2021)

Series of modified archival images reproduced on copier paper
September 2021

A response to the Human X Nature exhibition at the National Library, Singapore.

Like a visual archaeologist, I retrieved, copied and worked onto reproduced archival images to recall a forgotten collective past. Slow, repetitive stitching allowed me to cope and habituate myself with cope with the jarring ecological disinheritance, while the artmaking seemed to parallel our forceful, deliberate march forward. The running stitches came to resemble braille, a material allusion to the limitations of human foresight.

References

British Royal Air Force. (1953). Aerial photographs by the British Royal Air Force between 1940 to 1970s [Series of aerial photographs from East to West.]. National Archives of Singapore, Singapore. https://www.nas.gov.sg/archivesonline/

Dalebroux, A., Goldstein, T. R., & Winner, E. (2008). Short-term mood repair through art-making: Positive emotion is more effective than venting. Motivation and Emotion, 32(4), 288–295. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11031-008-9105-1

Ministry of Information and the Arts Collection. (1954). Crowd Queueing Up to Receive Food Rations at Social Welfare Department [Photograph]. National Archives of Singapore, Singapore. https://www.nas.gov.sg/archivesonline