Works by two foreign-born, Singapore-based artists currently on show here not only give an idea of how they see the island republic, but also how they use their art to bridge understanding and build relationships.
Panagiotis Kotsidas
Panagiotis Kotsidas calls himself a street photographer, using photography as a way of exploring a space and as a shield as he observes what’s happening around him.
Since he came to Singapore from New York City to work as an engineer in 2013, he’s been taking photographs of life around him, going to far ends of Singapore like Kranji and even out at sea.
Hundreds of film rolls – and not digital files – later, Mr Kotsidas has teamed up with award-winning poet Shivram Gopinath to present I Know You’re Upset, a photo book and exhibition featuring Mr Kotsidas’s photos and Mr Gopinath’s poetry.
“It was very much a collaboration where we selected my photos together, and had many discussions about the narrative of the photo book,” said Mr Kotsidas, a 33-year-old Greek.
Eighteen of the 45 photos in the book were picked for the exhibition at UltraSuperNew, a new creative agency headed by Mr Gopinath.
The 2015 and 2016 Singapore National Poetry Slam champion had written poems as reactions to the photos.
“The idea behind the photos is of a foreigner trying to discover the ethos and psyche of Singapore,” said Mr Kotsidas.
“And the photos contrast with what foreigners think of Singapore in general: a super clean tropical island.”
At the gallery, Mr Kotsidas displayed six 50 by 50cm prints on the left wall and a number of smaller prints on the right.
He photographed local communities as well as “sleazy expats”.
The exhibition title I Know You’re Upset is tongue-in-cheek because he reckoned that some of the images he had taken might not sit well with those who see them.
“The whole idea was to create a collection that makes you feel that something is a bit off about the space.”
Mr Kotsidas said of a photo of two birds in cages, shot against a perfect backdrop of blue sky and sea: “It seems like they’re in a perfect environment, but at the same time, they’re trapped. I think many people around me can relate to that.”
In another photo, there’s a Caucasian man sitting in a boat next to two women whose faces are outside the frame. “This, to me, is representative of a ‘certain group’ in Singapore.”
Lavender Chang
Taiwan-born Lavender Chang first came to Singapore with her parents, for her to pursue tertiary education.
To learn more about Singapore, the art graduate embarked on a quest to find out about hawker food that reminded Singaporeans of home.
She would arrange and take photos of the cooked ingredients of the dishes, dissecting them visually.
Ms Chang, who learnt drawing and painting in school, majored in photography while at Temasek Polytechnic.
The series A Dissection of…… was in response to an anti-immigrant rally she saw at Hong Lim Park, which made her think about how she felt welcomed in Singapore.
“I saw one of my Singaporean friends taking part in the rally, which was a shock to me as I remember her as very friendly,” said Ms Chang.
So she started the food series because she believed that it would be a good way to know a person, finding out what they love to eat and how the dishes trigger memories.
The exhibition at The Arts House, which opened last week, features a few works from A Dissection of……, mounted on plastic chairs and arranged to look like it’s a local coffee shop.
The series is part of an exhibition called Pet Me, Pet Me, Look At Me, Love Me, which looks at the role of the written word in the conceptual practices of Ms Chang and fellow artist Liana Yang.
Ms Chang is notably varied in her work, having done several time-based, process-driven works.
The latest to premiere at the Arts House is a series called All The Lights We Cannot See, based on conversations Ms Chang had with seven people, in which they talked about their deepest, darkest secrets.
It’s a project she started in 2012, but the work is being presented only now because she wanted to conduct a second round of interviews – a year or two after their initial meeting.
“I wanted to see if their memories or emotions would be different a year after they first shared them with me,” said Ms Chang.
And the second meeting benefitted the project.
One of the interviewees could provide only sketchy details at their first meeting, but gave her full story at the follow-up interview.
“Some of them said they felt better after sharing with me,” said Ms Chang.
The “secrets” are written out on paper, photographed and presented in a video projection.
“It’s no longer just text – I’ve captured a portrait of the secret, photographing the person.”
Although it was a challenging project because of the persuading she had to do and the emotions involved, Ms Chang said the idea fascinated her – unearthing the secrets was like holding a mirror to herself, a process on which her works are centred on.
I Know You’re Upset photo exhibition at UltraSuperNew
- 13, Bussorah Street, from now till April 14, Mondays to Fridays, 10am to 7pm.
- To buy the limited-edition photo book, go to https://i-know-youre-upset.myshopify.com
Pet Me, Pet Me, Look At Me, Love Me exhibition
- Arts House, from now till April 12, 10am to 10pm daily.
- There is a curator’s tour on April 8, 2 to 3pm
uihoon@sph.com.sg
This article was first published on March 24, 2017.
Get The Business Times for more stories.
