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EVENT DESCRIPTION
Square Street Gallery is pleased to present Sediments of Memory, a trio exhibition with Emily Kueis, Wendy Tai, and Daisuke Tajima.
The experience of a thing, our recollection of the same, and its consequent narration are necessarily incongruent. In her 1991 essay “The Evidence of Experience,” American historian Joan W. Scott examines the reading and interpretation of oral histories and suggests that they should be read as literary texts subject to interpretation rather than static bits of objective information. Scott’s argument rests on the premise that our experiences and how we feel about them change as we do. Her claim allows us to consider the formation of memory—vis a vis language—as a sedimentary process, such that the original experience is inevitably inaccessible, buried under layers of bedrock where each layer is formed in a diachronic way: as we evolve, so do our recollections.
Individual personhood is shaped by and understood through memories that span lifetimes. Hong Kong artist Emily Kueis’s latest self-portraits capture not the artist’s physical likeness but her memories, essence, and anxieties. In Kueis’s paintings, what we observe is the liquidity of the self; its ability to dissolve into its surroundings and fill up a space created by others.
Multimedia Hong Kong artist-educator Wendy Tai is known for interactive and temporal installations that often utilizes the transparency, fragility, and impermanence of materials such as glass and water. Her 2011 series Mourning Diary was created shortly after the passing of her mother. Taking their titles from theorist Roland Barthes’s book of the same name, the works reflect on the affective labor involved in palliative care and addresses the transience of life and death.
Working solely from his recollections of Hong Kong, Taiwan, and Mainland China during his visits, as opposed to photographic references, Nara-born artist Daisuke Tajima composes fantastical cityscapes decked with imposing high-rises, signages, and machinery. Rendered with a cartographer’s pen onto handcrafted panels, Tajima’s cities are at once sites of abundant expansion and chaotic destruction.
Details
- Start:
- 24 August 2023
- End:
- 7 October 2023
- Admission:
- Free
- Event Category:
- Multimedia, Painting
Organiser
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