I am really pleased with the result of this project. Initially I was disappointed in myself - it is undeniable that my work doesn't have the same visual impact that the MFA2s final hand-ins had. That initial ‘wow-factor’ is something that I was jealous of...
However, I am glad that I questioned myself on this. I realised I have achieved exactly what I set out to do. My accumulative research over the last few semesters including; aesthetic theory, colour theory, research into culture, practices, and beliefs, as well as the continuing occurrence of the golden ratio in seemingly everything I do; has resulted in a body of pieces which represent numerous parts of the Peranakan culture and the need for new functional items. Wow-factor or not - the pieces serve their purpose, and have considered design details, which makes the project a whole.
Although the urn could be read as a product, this isn’t its primary purpose. It is a vessel to start conversation, which is, and has been my main interest throughout this journey.
I have been fortunate to, after being ignored by the National Museum of Scotland, having been in almost non-stop contact with a senior curator at the Peranakan Museum in Singapore, Jackie Yoong.
Jackie’s readiness to listen and sound ideas off has been an incredibly useful and necessary asset to this project. I have formed connections within several departments within the museum, and have firm plans to travel there in summer of 2020. I am hoping at this point the educational department will have benefited from an ‘outsiders’ perspective, and will follow through on their offer to show my work.
I was more than slightly concerned about my project book. I am still a little unsure about the visual text to image ratios, but every bit of information within the book is important. I have edited and re-edited down to what I feel is the minimum I can to get my concept accross.
I am also not sure if I have talked about this before, but I find it really relevent so I will repeat myself. I know I have said I am concerned about offending people from the get-go, but something I hadn’t considered prior to actually starting was how much information to give away.
It is fairly obvious from my surname that I have some Asian heritage. This is something I would like people to be aware of - it rules out the ‘us’ and ‘them’ worry, slightly. However, It is really important that this project isn’t read as a product. I had initially only called it ‘21st century peranakan’ ... which was simple and clean, but it really doesn’t offer any spark of intrigue to read further into the project.
That is where ‘Ascension through artefact’ came from... It is unclear enough for people to question its meaning, but if you know the full story - it makes perfect sense.
I have chosen to not write an ‘artist statement’. If I needed to have one, I would want to use my artist introduction merged with my artist information text, but as a ‘museum’ piece, I would like to think that a larger, more explanatory section of text would be available. I.e vinyl prints on walls, out the way of the projector....
This brings me onto my projector situation. I know some people hate it, and sometimes I think it’s done really badly, but I really like when the ‘audience’ can get in the way of a projection. It only works if its not a walkway or through a pathway, and is instead in its own room or with a cluster of pieces. However, having people cross in-front of the projection gives the piece more presence. It is immersive, and the shadows projected are that person in the piece.
This turned into a ramble, sorry!
Essentially, I am really happy with the final result of this project, and am really excited for what it’s future holds.
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