A British-born artist now living in Singapore first got the inspiration for her upcoming solo exhibition by being appointed an art teacher and mentor to a group of twenty Singaporean prisoners. Sponsored by the Singapore Art Museum, the artist spent twelve weeks with the female prisoners, giving them lessons in art basics and leading them with projects that would set the stage for them completing artworks on their own in the future. Art is a wonderful way to express feelings, work through traumas, and relieve stress — perfect for inmates incarcerated because of past mistakes.
Officials at the Singapore Art Museum, inspired by the artist’s work with the inmates and the success of that endeavor, asked her to create a body of work for a solo show. She used her time with the group of inmates as a sort of muse, soliciting stories from anonymous users online about various challenges and heartbreaks they have undergone. Everything from bullying to domestic disturbances were submitted, and the artist took them and wove them into her work.
The installations the artist came up with are empowering and inspiring themselves. Part of them are outlines, profiles, and designs drawn on rice paper by burning incense. These works are suspended from the ceiling in the exhibit space and turn with breezes, offering different experiences for visitors to the show. The other part of the installation includes words taken from the stories the artist solicited. By design, some of the words obscure others. The artist said it was because even as people reveal one part of themselves to others, there are always hidden depths that remain untapped. One person might even show different sides of themselves to different people in the same day, depending on the situation, meaning that no one person will receive the full picture. Every single person in the world is complicated, beset by challenges and filled with hope — or free of challenges and lacking hope for the future. We all contain multitudes, and it is that multilayered beauty that the artist is looking to share through her exhibition at the Singapore Art Museum.
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To learn more about the exhibit inspired by Singaporean prisoners, as well as to see photos of some of the work that will be on display, go to http://www.straitstimes.com/lifestyle/telling-stories-of-the-disenfranchised.