Students explore so many different media, and their artworks and intentions vary greatly. There is so much student (and teacher!) pride when it all comes together in the final exhibition, and it is sincerely heartwarming to see students share their work with the community. Here are just some examples of their final exhibition pieces and text.
Title : Sew for Love
Medium: Oil, watercolour, charcoal, fabric, thread and acrylic on canvas
Intentions: A woman sews a Omani Kuma at home. The kuma is traditional headwear worn by Omani men and boys. I want to highlight how detailed the design work is and how that matches the woman’s delicate nature. The close up detail in the second piece (top right) accentuates her skill. The piece (bottom right) shows an unfinished Kuma, suggesting her work will continue providing for the males in the family. The thread linking the pieces symbolises the woman’s connection to the men in her life
Title: Tension
Medium: Digital Photography, only minor light editing in Photoshop
Intentions: This piece symbolizes common behaviors at the end of any kind of relationship and the beginning of a journey of recovery. Although in most cases one is more insecure in such a process, they’re tethered together by a bond (all that’s red) that makes the journey that separates them harder, causing various tensions. With every step, that bond stretches and begins to rip. It’s quite often a long and lonesome experience, with a great deal of ups and downs, as if one would be trekking over mountains.
Title: Beauty of Old Age
Medium: Pencil on paper
Intention: This piece intends to highlight the beauty of old age. It contradicts the belief that as you grow older your beauty is left behind. Lines, wrinkles, scars are all ways that people leave an imprint on themselves. The monochrome piece allows the wrinkles that cover the face down to the hands to be exaggerated, creating unity and beauty.. Despite societal comments, this elder continues to love and embrace their aged body and finds the beauty within it.
Title: Shop House,
Medium: Drawing and Adobe Photoshop
Intentions: Is it art or vandalism? Malaysia’s growing urbanism reflects a cultural shift in what is considered art in the city. Inspired by my experiences seeing traditional buildings covered in graffiti in cities like Malacca and Penang, it can be seen either as a way of destruction of culture or preservation and construction to a new world of it. A debate that is up to the viewer to argue. The diptych shows the monumental change as the art scene evolves more radically and experimentally.
Title: The Toilet
Medium: Readymade objects
Intentions: In this autobiographical installation, inspired by Tracey Emin's ‘My Bed’, the emotional upheaval of eating disorders is poignantly explored through clutter and chaos. The worn carpet and gum accumulation on the toilet allude to the repetitious cycle of bingeing and purging, while mouthwash and gum symbolise the deep-seated shame and desperation felt in hiding the disorder's effects. In presenting the piece so publicly, the audience gets an intimate glimpse of my past.
Title : Long Flight
Medium : Black card and pencil
Intentions: In this piece I layered pictures of myself as a child with images of a Betta fish I owned at that age.I wanted to show the graceful side of the Betta fish that I saw instead as they are usually known as an aggressive fish. Instead of a glass jar I added the fish into bubbles to show them being trapped in both the jar and my memories. The bubbles fly away to show time passing and the colors relate to the beauty and whimsical feel of bubbles to symbolize childhood imagination.
Title: Womanhood
Medium: Oil on canvas
Intentions: This piece tackles my body image. The sculpture is modeled after me, which emphasizes the severity of outside opinions. The kneeling represents resignation to those who want to change me - 4 different hands which represent family, friends, social media, and myself. This represents my binge-eating disorder, which averts me to change as I constantly gain weight back, referring back to the unmarked sculpture, despite the use of clay tools. This piece is influenced by Jackie Liu’s piece, Sculptor.
Title: Flipped
Medium: Acrylic Paint on Polyester Cloth
Intentions: This piece makes use of the viewer to communicate its intentions. Exhibited on the floor, one can walk over the piece, which now acts as a reflection of the viewer, the children symbolizing our past self looking at who we have now become and the sky representing the boundless nature of our childhood dreams. Yet, if the viewer looks up, he will notice there is no sky above him, only the ceiling of the exhibition room, emphasizing how we are now disconnected from those dreams.
