Paintings and collages                            Prev            Next

Remnant garden
2009 - 2010
Oil, acrylic, paper, plastic-bag, newspaper and cardboard mounted on canvas
101.5 x 76.5 cm

If the overused phrase that describes every man as an island, I personally feel that every woman is a garden. Thus for this exhibition which is to celebrate 50 years of “printed womanhood”, I specifically constructed an intricate collage that exudes the sensuality and vibrancy of a garden in full-bloom. Remnant garden (2010) is a work that balances collage, painting, sculpture and assemblage into a complex entity that possesses the energy and beauty of well-tended tropical garden. It personifies a Modern day Malaysian woman, a complex urban intellectual that oozes sensuality of character and of body. Slender curves and dizzying-hot colors attract attention while the intricacies of form imply the complexity of the woman’s mind and personality. The collage ironically is partly constructed of re-cycled material. Plastic bags and newspaper are manipulated to appear like mutated roots and buds. I created this piece out of salvaged materials to connote a woman who managed to rise from the odds and garner success much like a rose that grew from a dirt wall. The layered collage which is mounted on a canvas much like a tapestry describes womanhood in flux, a multifaceted urban soul that is constantly manipulated like clay by its environment and personal history.