Opening of Tropical Lab 12: Sense. Image Courtesy of Isabelle Lim
by Jojo Shen Xingzhou, MA Fine Arts (2019)
“…I’m a long away from home, looking for aroha, still, getting to know you.” – TK, participant of Tropical Lab 12: Sense
There was a voice; only not yet a voice, not yet a voice spoken out by someone, but only typed out on a piece of paper.
There was a piece of paper, only not yet a piece of artwork, but simply a pamphlet of the exhibition.
There was an exhibition, which holds 24 artists’ works, but not yet his work.
There was his work, with nothing shown in the gallery space, but only his words.
There were his words, only not spoken by him, but simply typed out at the very end of the listed artists, on the plain piece of pamphlet of the exhibition.
There was an exhibition, which has no space for him, no space for his words, yet he and his words fill up everywhere.
Everywhere, we feel: words are trying to escape from the emotionless text, to find its voice.
Everywhere, we hear: voices are vague but they keep on practicing to form its colours.
Everywhere, we touch the colours oozing from its fragrances.
Everywhere, we smell the fragrances dancing through the time and space.
Everywhere, we walk, we mediate.
Everywhere, we remember and keep remembering.
Everywhere, we meet the eyes, we turn, we find out:
We are a long away from home, only if there is a home,
We are still, getting to know the truth, only if there is a truth.
Everywhere, there is us, us, looking for something.
Everywhere, there is us, on the way to make sense
Tatjana Beljinac, Sentire, 2018, 6 digital prints, each 30 x 42 cm, installation view, Tropical Lab 12: Sense, 2018.
Image courtesy of Weizhong Deng. Source: https://www.lasalle.edu.sg/events/tropical-lab-12-sense
