the fire within

After more than 4 years, I am actually going back to creating my own work. My entire life for the past couple of years have been spent opening up boutiques, galleries, the hotel and helping out artists in any way possible and balancing family life - so that leaves the remaining 3-4 hours of my day sleeping. Yes, I am still human after all.

So when I got an invitation to do a one man exhibition in Luang Prabang, Laos, I said yes and there came the push that I needed after all these years. My last major show was in Beijing during the 2008 Olympic Games and I thought I have been more complacent about developing myself further as an artist. So this Laos exhibition in November is truly another great reason for me to drown myself in my own universe with an exhibition entitled THE FIRE WITHIN.

 

The Fire Within is primarily a commentary on subjugation, censorship, and the human tendency to reignite the flame of freedom that has long thought been extinguished. Using original photographs taken from all over Asia and placed as puzzles on hundreds of match boxes, the works represent the faces of everyday people and their poetic representations confronted by their daily march towards happiness, their journeys towards it or the utter lack of it.

Meant to be opened and tinkered with, these matchboxes also randomly contain woven words, found objects and other pieces of thoughts. 

These works can either be placed as installations on walls, tables, floors and a variety of other available indoor surfaces.

 Above are the smaller sample pieces of the photography-based installations from the series. I am currently working on larger works and incorporating details on each match so the viewer can break down the image and be introduced into smaller stories encompassing each part.

More sleepless nights to come...