I’m very used to clarity in Singapore. Everything is accounted for. Numbers. An acronym for everything. Huge signs. Clear, crisp outlines of tall buildings. Arrows, painted lines on the roads, pavements, green railings. Sometimes my eyes even hurt. Looking out of the plane window, I see the sky blending into the sea. The horizon doesn’t exist. Clouds could be mountains. The sea a silk fabric, disturbed by the breeze. The light reflecting on the water could be gold, or green. We can’t truly be sure. And somehow this uncertainty becomes comfortable. If nothing is right, nothing is wrong.

I’m going to miss this wild, layered life I’ve experienced for the past month. It’s quite bizarre how I’ve become able to feel a time rift created with physical distance, perhaps an effect of too much traveling. Somehow, when I physically move away from something, it’s as if I’ve left it in a memory from years ago. It’s like waking up from a dream, and feeling a strong emotion flood out of you when you realise it isn’t your reality.

I thought the trip was going to tire me out further from work, but the slow life soothed me, and took care of me. Do you know? The little ache in your heart when you’ve fallen in love with something and know you can’t have it forever. I’ve fallen in love with the mountains, the clouds, the sea and the spirit of Taitung, and I know I will be back. Then, it will be the same, yet not at all the same. That’s the beauty of encounters, because it’s not just the place, but the moment. An encounter can never, ever be replicated, and that’s why it will always be precious, and fleeting.

WHAT I HAVE BEEN UP TO

Art Ripple Taitung Residency

ARTWORK & PROCESS

If you’ve read the previous post, you’d know I’ve been playing a lot during my residency. I’ve done a serious documentation post on my website though, speaking about the materials I learned to work with and new skills I picked up.

I created 2 artworks during the residency, experimenting with new techniques and materials. These will be exhibited at the FIND Design Fair in Marina Bay Sands from 26-28 Sept 2024 along with the many artisanal crafts, and artworks of 2 other artists who have taken part in the residency (The fair is free if you register early!). I haven’t released the photos on my social media yet, so here’s a sneak. The write-up and all photos will go up after the fair!

Both artworks have some sort of ‘link’ in them; Nucleus is a single form, made out of 3 vessels which shapes are inspired by a traditional diamond-shaped vessel I encountered often in Taitung; Linked has 2 holes visible only from the front, and a ring in another material runs through them. Which is linking which? The concept is an acknowledgement of how many Austronesian people still share common roots when tracing back their origins, despite being separated by distance and modern language; even though their ancestors had walked or sailed different routes, it links back to the same history. Both artworks also employ not only crochet, but different forms of weaving, fusing the 2 together to form a hybrid (like the aborigines speaking their own languages in addition to a new standardised language to integrate into society).

One of the things I love most about crochet is that ability it has to seamlessly link 3D forms (compared to fabric), so I have made use of this characteristic to give these forms shapes you might expect out of materials like clay, or stone. The organically-shaped holes in Linked might remind one of coastal rock formations, when sea arches are formed by the fierce currents.

To be frank, concepts don’t really exist in my head when I am confronted my new material. I interact with the material to learn more about its personality, and let it lead the way. The concept might lie in my subconscious, and that’s why it always seems to link up with the work in the end. For these 2 works, the colour was a big part, which is rare for me. The colour of the turmeric at the base of Nucleus is the strongest (dyed thrice), and it also smelt so, so good when I was crocheting! The brown from the shulang dye has so much depth with all its rich shades.

NEW THINGS I SAW

「水墨行路-林永發七十畫展 」Navigating Paths with Ink: Lin Yung Fa

Lin Yung Fa (b.1964) is a painter born in Taitung specialising in Chinese painting, and I got to visit his exhibition (comprising 70 works), in Taitung Art Museum when I was there. My teacher Abus’ daughter works at the museum, and she was telling us how Lin painted this massive piece during the installation days of the show.

I translated the title really loosely, and this again exemplifies how much more can be captured in Chinese, as each character or even parts of each character bring to mind different meanings. Most of Lin’s works depict the beautiful scenery of Taitung, most of them with the sea, and either the sun or the moon sinking into the distance.

But there was one painting, not of the mountain or sea that drew my eye:

I found out from my companion that the ‘Bombing Lord Handan Festival’ is a religious festival unique to Taitung, one that almost died out during Japanese colonial rule, and got banned at one point due to its danger. It is now designated by the county government as a cultural asset that shows the city’s strong links to its traditional folklore.

Even though it is extremely dangerous and might even cause death, many men volunteer to take the role of Lord Handan because they believe they get blessings from the deity. A troupe surrounds the volunteer, who only wears a pair of shorts and has a wet towel covering his face, and pelts him with firecrackers (other methods detailed in link above). I would like to watch this irl, someday.

This last image shows the painting I am actually the most fond of. In this little room are several paintings Lin has done with his son, who has Down’s syndrome. Lin painted the backgrounds, and his son layers above his paintings. In the photo above, you can still see Lin’s iconic sun, hanging at the top left corner. The composition and energy of this piece is lovely.

WHAT I’VE BEEN READING

The World According to Colour

I picked up this book by James Fox probably late last year, but my reading has slowed considerably with all the work and travel. The writing is engaging, and the photos of references are included so you don’t have to go search them up yourself. I got sidetracked a lot though, because there were other books recommended, such as ‘In Praise of Shadows’, which I picked up when I got to the chapter ‘Black’ (the chapters are separated into colours and their individual histories). This inspired me to focus on darkness in my recent exhibition, In Vain. I have also been very drawn to Yellow recently,

There is a lot of art, from the middle ages to contemporary, so it has been quite fun going down several rabbit holes. Currently, I am on the chapter of Blue. I will leave it at just 1 quote for now, because this reading section is getting too long, lol.

The Power of Language

As a necessary update, this book ended in a disappointing twist. In fact, I rated it only 3/5 on Goodreads, lol. While the front presented a lot of strong concepts, the back became a dumping ground of baseless, personal opinions. (I know quite a few people who followed my recommendation for this book, and I apologise if you felt the same way about the ending!)

The parts I enjoyed were contesting whether a language’s lack of vocabulary reduces your ability to express and thus, feel certain emotions (such as what was suggested in George’s Orwell’s 1984, with Newspeak diminishing the vocabulary and removing ‘unhappy’ words so discontent could not be expressed). This book states that we would first have to identify where ‘thought’ and ‘language’ comes from— if thought is impossible without language then before language there would have been no thought, then language would have to be something introduced to us from outside, which isn’t true. What about non-linguistic thought? It is a very interesting argument which disappointingly, comes with no real answers. What about impulses and reactions? Or is Language simply a way to access thought, and share that with others? I often see artists as translators, except some ‘languages’ we translate from are not linguistic. So I do believe that language exists to communicate thought, and thought CAN exist without language.

If you’ve read Landmarks by Robert Macfarlane, he speaks of how certain vocabulary from lost languages like Gaelic used to describe unique features in Nature are lost, resulting in people being unable to spot these very phenomenons. This, I believe. Thought is one thing; what about Experience? We might lose the ability to spot and remember something without a word to peg it to memory, but does that mean we completely lose the ability to THINK about it? Is Language but a mode of recording? If Language is the recording device, and Thought is the voice being spoken into it, destroying the recording device doesn’t make the voice disappear. But these voiced thoughts, without a memory, might disappear forever if not recorded.

It has been proven (according to the book) that bilinguals REMEMBER what they saw differently from monolinguals due to ‘cross-linguistic co-activation’. If that is the case, then it’s an issue of language vs. memory, rather than language vs. thought? And then we have to define what is ‘memory’ and what is ‘thought’.

One thing I can say though, is that even though I am trilingual, my short-term memory is pathetic, and my ability to multi-task is just as bad (the book suggests multi-linguals are better at multi-tasking and parallel processing). Also, I don’t have an ‘inner voice’, so if you asked me what ‘language’ I think in, I don’t know. (The ‘voice’ appears when I’m stressed or have specific tasks, and it comes in a mix of the languages I know.)

Another question I’ve been wondering about— do I consider myself a native English speaker? I can write English relatively well, so I would say I am a native English WRITER, but to be perfectly honest, I’m a native SINGLISH speaker, and that is very different; I can express myself better in Japanese than PROPER English sometimes. This book also suggests that ‘broken’ English could be classified as another language on its own, as it has its own rules. Singlish sometimes follows the grammar structure of Chinese, so I would already disqualify it as English. (What do you think?)

RECENT

Electric Child

In 2022, I had the privilege of being part of an amazing film production. In 2019, I received an email from Swiss film director Simon Jacquemet out of the blue. He was making a movie called Electric Child, and was interested in casting me for the part of the female lead. He had found my photo online, and my image happened to be a great fit for the character. I was honoured, but having no acting experience whatsoever, and also due to a few other reasons, I rejected the role. (I am however, really interested to explore acting some time in my life, so I have to say it was a hard decision to reject it.) Imagine my surprise and delight when I found out who they had casted in the role— Rila Fukushima, one of the iconic faces in fashion, who had also starred in Hollywood blockbusters like The Wolverine (2013). To make things even better, Simon invited me to be hired as a consultant for the styling of the character. I was ecstatic, because it’s something I’ve always wanted to experience.

So in May 2022, I got on the plane to Europe, and arrived in Switzerland. On the very first day, I entered the production set of the apartment, and it was fabulous. My first time on set, and it was such a professional one. It was the kind of house I’d have loved to live in. Additionally, I had brought over some of my artworks to decorate the house (not sure if these were caught in the film!). That was the first time I met Rila, and of course I was terrified. She turned out to be super sweet and funny, and the next 10 days was a whirlwind of fun, including expeditions floating down the river, taking a cable car up to a peak in Lucerne, and getting stuck in the toilet of her apartment.

Workwise, I created some custom braids for her on set. I was disappointed that the styling of the character was angled more towards her in post-pregnancy (following the storyline), so she was a lot less excitable and colourful than I would suggest. I spent a lot of time hanging out with the huge, huge production crew, and lived with the casting director. I even got to see and hold a creation by Chris Creatures, who I have been following for a looong time. The effort which goes in a film is unimaginable. I feel so lucky to have been a part of it, even though I wasn’t doing much! Even though I get judged for the way I choose to dress myself up, it has given me such special opportunities, and I am reminded how simply being myself has given me so much.

Regaining my name

As some might have noticed, I’ve semi-officially switched my artist name to Kelly Jin Mei. My domain might be slower with the transition, but I’m probably still gonna keep my IG handle— for memory’s sake!

Thinking about it, ‘Limerick’ seems to really have been a past life. A friend commented that it seems like a ‘moult’. That’s pretty accurate, because moulting takes a while, and I’ve been contemplating this change for about a year. It might be confusing during this period, but I feel happy that I am finally owning my given name— my Chinese name, which I do love very much, because it is so very me (when you look at the hanzi writing of it: 妗鎂).

Also, as I hope to be showing more work overseas in future, this name would better represent me, as an Asian person (-:

Thanks for staying till here; ending off with a photo from my recent roll on my 110 camera. I have been shooting with it since 2008, and even though film and developing it has become so expensive, it’s hard to let go.
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