Forgetting and Remembering (Orange)

STPI – Creative Workshop & Gallery

About Artwork

The handkerchief acts as a domestic being; an object that, for example, wipes away snot and tears. For the artist, it also exemplifies the tensions and ambivalences that can arise at home, particularly during the past year where most people were homebound as a result of COVID-19. It also brings to the fore the feminine aspects of domesticity and the gendered qualities in acts of care—take for instance, how Kueh’s mother gave up her schooling and became a seamstress instead so that her brothers could pursue their education.

Phrases are also screenprinted onto the handkerchiefs: “Trying to Remember” and “Trying to Forget”. These quotes evoke the idea of (struggling against) the act of forgetting.

Artist Profile

Adeline Kueh makes installations, photography and embodied works that reconsider the relationship we have with things and rituals around us. Her works are imbued with a sense of desire and longing, and act as modern-day totems that explore personal histories and overlooked moments. Using drawing as a conceptual tool, Adeline tries to map out the historical trajectories across time and space through her use of found objects and new production.

The works produced during Kueh’s residency focused on the transformative acts against forgetting, and ideas around intimate/invisible labour within the home are used as departure
points. Producing significant bodies of work during her three-week residency—all of which circles back to her central focus—, her artworks are imbued with candid, raw emotions where she enquired if love has texture. In the later part of her residency where various persons and communities were engaged as crafters, the artist also took care to mediate between the flows of capital and labour.

Adeline has exhibited in the United Kingdom, USA, South Korea, The Netherlands, Turkey, Indonesia, Serbia, Australia and Singapore. Rooted in critical studies, Adeline has also chaired and presented at a number of cultural studies conferences in the UK, Germany, Australia, Finland, Hungary, Singapore and Malaysia. Currently a Senior Lecturer with the MA Fine Arts programme (with the McNally School of Fine Arts, LASALLE College of the Arts), Adeline’s research interests include notions of hauntings and monstrosity within Southeast Asian contexts, architecture, and adaptive design. Adeline was also involved in the Word of Mouth exhibition in the 2019 Venice Biennale, and was a consultant/designer for projects including the Passion Made Possible Culture Shaper Tribe Films (Singapore Tourism Board) in 2019 and Hermes Singapore in 2016.

Artist:

Adeline Kueh

Medium:

Screenprint on artist’s handkerchiefs

Size:

Framed: 54.2 x 84 x 3.8 cm

Year:

2021