60 units, 24 cm x 18.5 cm/ per unit.

Statement

Pro Se, meaning “to self-represent” in Latin, invites us to explore the medium of lacquer and its innate qualities. It is an installation in four parts, each using Vietnamese lacquer. The format of an iPad-like tablet is repeated throughout, referring to how we often experience images today, consuming and recording them rapidly in digital form. The material qualities of Vietnamese lacquer – such as radiance, surface sheen, and the presence of precious metals – force us to slow down and reconsider such everyday images in a more meditative way.

On the wall, a series of tablets in lacquer on wood recall a digital photostream, including banal personal imagery, as well as "digital mistakes" like blurring and pixelation. The lacquer paintings on the handling table refer to the digital experience of a geographical search function, zooming out from the gallery, to maps of Singapore and Southeast Asia, and the universe.

Lacquer is also presented on glass, shown under a magnifying lens at the lightbox table, revealing the translucent qualities and layered structure of a lacquer painting. The imagery evokes the internal structures of the human body, which digital magnification allows us to see. In the final section of the installation, lacquer on glass is projected as an image in light, much like the digital images delivered to our screens.

Common to all elements of the installation is an attention to the relationship between images, memory and our physical bodies, which is highlighted by the insistent material presence of the lacquer.

Work commissioned for by the National Gallery Singapore for the exhibition Radiant Material, 2017.