IB Art Exhibtion
Curatorial Rationale
Emotions can be physical and mental, especially negative ones. Part of the human condition is that the body reacts to these emotional shifts.
The emotions that dominate my exhibition are heartbreak, loneliness, discomfort and torment. My works have been informed by my personal experiences as a growing person who has faced hardships in platonic relationships and coped with these negative emotions. Dealing with increasingly complex emotions becomes a challenge to my body and my state of mind. However, through the creation of art, I have a better understanding of myself, and it has been a process of learning and acceptance of these changes.
Bodies and body parts are recurring motifs in my work. Through exploring the body, I have tried to convey explicitly and implicitly ideas of vulnerability, distress and torture. Utilising parts of the body allows the audience to connect directly with the work, going beyond empathy and a straight link to their own emotions. The works range from realistic, expressionistic and abstract styles to express the explicit and implicit states of mind. The body is used as a physical representation of emotions happening internally. I have used the motif of the heart and created figures posing in a foetal position as metaphors for the vulnerable and fragile emotional states. There are also other figures in a twisted and falling positions used as a metaphor for the mental distress of the mind beating itself. The physically twisted and distorted falling figures are projections for mental distortion, a loss control over the mind and body. They also link to concepts of falling in a religious sense and Icarus falling from the sky.
Other than that, symbolism is continuous in my artworks. I have included objects such as hearts, heads, and hands, and used colours for their universal symbolism. Fragile materials such as tissues, torn photographs and wax are used to convey the fragile and delicate state of mind. These depictions and metaphors allow the audience to make a direct association with the figures to understand the implicit and explicit meanings. The work intentionally guides the audience to experience discomfort and unease.
The arrangement of my exhibition is divided into three groups, hearts, heads and falling figures, and where possible I placed the sculpture in front of the relevant 2D images, to allow the audience can see the connections. The sculptures, which generally has the greater impact being all life sized, creates a greater sense of empathy and physical relation with the viewer, and will draw them to the relating works behind.
The first group is the hearts. Here the work is the most expressionistic. Red is used to symbolise both love, passion, blood and violence as the work explores heartache in an aggressive manner. In the latter heart pieces, red disappears and black appears as the work becomes less violent and more about the internal emotions where the audience can empathise with the suffering of heartache. In the second group I explore pose. Here faded colours and the position of the heads and limbs suggest sadness, loneliness and melting away. The fragile state of mind is suggest by the drips and rips. The final section of my exhibition uses the metaphor of falling. Falling relates to loss of control, doom, uncertainty, plummeting and some kind of impeding harm. These figures are twisted and distorted, exaggerating the pose to convey the loss of control and distorted mind. Here I mostly use black and white colours to convey the cold truth of the raw and negative emotions that appear in every life.
I want the audience continuously make connections to themselves and thinks and questions themselves to understand how negative emotions can consume the body and mind. As the arrangement of the works move from explicit to implicit meanings, hopefully, they realise the significance of their emotions in their own bodies as an understanding of the human condition.

Broken Hearts (Sept 2021)
Acrylic and perspex on canvas
20 x 20 cm (x 4)
Inspired by Khadja Mostafa’s trapped paintings, this presents the raw concept of heartache and is the most abstract of all my pieces. Created through violent expressionistic red brushstrokes and cracked glass as metaphors for the pain of a broken heart, it depicts the physical stress of heartbreak. Using an abstract style, paint physically delivers the stress on the heart and the breaking the glass shows the attack on the heart. The audience will feel the devastating power of heartbreaks.

Bleed Out (Oct 2021)
Acyrlic and charcoal on tracing paper
35 x 25.5 cm x 6
Adapting the violent brushstrokes from Broken Hearts, this is a more recognisable portrayal of broken hearts. This continues my heart motif, inspired by Kiki Smith's exploration of bodily fluids and vulnerability of Daria Krotova's use of delicate materials. The use of tissue shows the heart's fragility as foreign objects consecutively attack and break the heart. The audience feels the agony the heart suffers, leading to the uncontrollable tear in the heart as the blood drips and red bleeds out.

Destruction (Dec 2021)
Polymer clay, string, wood, glass, acrylic, plaster
26.5 x 28 x 12.7 cm, 19.5 x 18 x 9.5 cm, 26 x 23 x 14.5 cm, 19 x 20 x 8.5 cm
Here I imitated a real heart in size and colour to represent how a heart can physically be destroyed. The artwork is inspired by Kiki Smith’s use of body parts and presentation concept comes from Nick Cave’s arm sculptures. The hand presenting contrasts with the blooded heart is a metaphor of the internal warfare leading to heartbreak, and highlights the delicateness of heart. This directly connects with the audience's empathy as various brutalities are portrayed, the realism creating shock


Comfort Place (Feb 2023)
Charcoal, graphite and acyrlic on paper
59.4 x 84.1 cm
Shifting to a black heart, a symbol of death, this piece is less destructive. Instead, it displays the internal suffering and sorrow of heartache. The drawing technique references Robert Longo cold yet powerful style and Kiki Smith depictions of the helplessness of the body. With the foetal pose, the muted colour range, the scale and hyperrealism of the drawing I intend the audience to feel the silence and calmness of accepting pain compared to the previous works.


The New Norm (May 2022)
Wire, Paper, Plastic string, acrylic
86 x 107 x 32 cm
Following the foetal pose, this sculpture shows the acceptance to the numbness of pain. The holes in the metal wire causes the audience to overlook the existence of the body, as if it was fading away, a metaphor for anxiety and grief one has. The emphasized is now all on the black heart. The scale of the figure also guides the audience to sympathise and have a real physical relationship with the work much like the work of Anthony Gormley.

Torn (Mar 2022)
Digital photography
30 x 31.5 (6) cm
Moving to the second group, looking into pose. These photographs included extreme close-ups of the head and body in poses of anguish. Tearing the photographs is a reference from Marlo Pascual work. With pose and rip I intend the audience to understand the mental state to feel lonely and lost. It is expression of the fragile state of mind as it is very easy to rip things apart. The blue tones and use of fading in the photo symbolises the melancholy when alone, the colour of life draining away.

Crawling from Hell (Dec 2022)
Wire, modroc, wax and acrylic
34 x 36 x 49 cm, 32 x 37.5 x 41.5 cm
These twisted heads are inspired by Robert Longo’s Men in the Cities head poses and the wax is similarly used in Kiki Smith’s works. As the material drips, it signifies the fragility of the mind and how the figure is decaying into loneliness. The wax melting away the details of the sculpture and the faded pink colour evoke solitude as the mind cannot break through this barrier to be recognised, and they are in discomfort. The viewer should acknowledge the agony that the mind tries to battle.

The Fall (Sept 2022)
Wire and textile
121 x 118 x 51 cm
Moving to the metaphor of falling. This intends the viewer to feel the discomfort of losing control over their body as their mind falls. Again, inspired by poses and the purpose of Men in the Cities but distorted and twisted further, it conveys emotional distress to the audience. The single falling figure is to imply the isolation. Life-sized and clothed to create connection and impact here the meaning less explicit and open for the audience’s interpretation.


Never Ending (Jan 2023)
Oil on canvas
160 x 18.5 cm (x3)
Continuing the falling figure, this depicts the continuous uncertainty of the mind as the figure is endlessly falling and spinning. The contorted pose conveys a distorted mentality. Using b/w creates a weighty atmosphere to reveal the truth of negative emotions. This anonymous figure, referenced from Bouts’ Renaissance figures falling to hell, show the negative emotions apply universally. I want the audience to feel the boundless fall that the mind cannot control for the figure to be twisted.

The Art of Falling (Feb 2022)
Paper collage
26.5 x 26.5 cm (x2)
Using the distortion of figure in Never Ending here the figures are collaged out of male and female body parts from various sources. These include a Egon Schiele self-portrait, Denis Sarazhin Pantomime No. 8, Erik Isakson Female contortionist, Amedeo Modigliani Reclining Nude, Gian Lorenzo Bernini The Rape of Proserpina, and Artemisia Gentileschi Susanna and the Elders. The anonymous mannequin figure becomes patchwork of people from different places and cultures representing all of us falling

Arrival to Hell (Feb 2023)
Oil on canvas
102 x 76 cm
Lastly, this piece intends to have the audience question their feelings as the figure is ultimately falling into the place of hell, with fire and destruction. Inspired by Deric Bouts’ , Hell and the story of Icarus, the figure comes from The Art of Falling and it is frantically falling into hell with its contorted pose, a metaphor for the negative consequences of the mind falling. This work contrasts monochrome with colours, old and modern, religion and secular ideas of the fall.