Mixed Media installation detail view. Dessicated coconut.A floor-mounted, sculptural piece made with desiccated coconut will be splaying across the gallery floor . Building upon the tradition of rangoli, I have worked with desiccated coconut – a commonplace domestic commodity – to draw on the ephemeral nature of the practice and its connections to cycles of life and death. Coconut is used in countless capacities to nurture, heal, and nourish the body in the form of moisturizers, conditioners, and food.
My practice has considered the role that art can play in better understanding consumption systems, aesthetic codes and the politics of cultural and social displacement through my identity as an intersectional, Singaporean-Canadian woman of Punjabi descent. My practice explores my cultural history and how particular materials are adapted or transformed through use in different spaces/environments. The work is an exploration in materiality, rituals ,assimilation and bridging the gaps of the human and post-human environments. Photo credit Jason Carreiro
By ritualistically hand-dying the coconut and orchestrating a large scale, topographical rangoli, my work brings together human cultural and embodied practices while acknowledging the presence of the non-human world. Photo credit Jason Carreiro
Using near-expired, non-toxic materials, the artwork becomes a repository of energy for the microbial systems that live within the gallery feeding organisms that go unnoticed in the human world. Concurrently, patrons are immersed in their own fleshly experience through reverberating colours, softened sound, rich aromas, and the anticipation of taste and touch. The installation splaying across the floor, transforming slowly over the exhibition run, via its consumption by microbial organisms, echoes rangoli’s ephemeral nature; however, at its culmination, the half-digested material will be recycled into new energy through its decomposition by millions of microorganisms, beginning a new cycle. This is translated further documenting the inner worlds of the materials through cellular maps in vinyl and mylar prints in the form of wall installations throughout the space. Finally, the installation assumes an organic form reminiscent of the female body as a way to collapse the realms of gender, culture, and materiality. Photo credit Jason Carreiro
Mixed Media on mylar. Collaged cellular maps of microorganisms and microbes translation decay and regeneration. This is translated through documenting the inner worlds of the materials through cellular maps in vinyl and mylar prints in the form of wall installations throughout the space. 18 x24, Photo credit Jason Carreiro
Mixed Media on mylar. Collaged cellular maps of microorganisms and microbes translation decay and regeneration. This is translated through documenting the inner worlds of the materials through cellular maps in vinyl and mylar prints in the form of wall installations throughout the space. 18 x 24, Photo credit Jason Carreiro
Mixed Media on mylar. Collaged cellular maps of microorganisms and microbes translation decay and regeneration. This is translated through documenting the inner worlds of the materials through cellular maps in vinyl and mylar prints in the form of wall installations throughout the space. 18 x 24, Photo credit Jason Carreiro
Mixed Media on mylar. Collaged cellular maps of microorganisms and microbes translation decay and regeneration. This is translated through documenting the inner worlds of the materials through cellular maps in vinyl and mylar prints in the form of wall installations throughout the space. 18 x 24, Photo credit Jason Carreiro
Mixed Media on mylar. Collaged cellular maps of microorganisms and microbes translation decay and regeneration. This is translated through documenting the inner worlds of the materials through cellular maps in vinyl and mylar prints in the form of wall installations throughout the space. 18 x 24, Photo credit Jason Carreiro
Mixed Media on mylar. Collaged cellular maps of microorganisms and microbes translation decay and regeneration. This is translated through documenting the inner worlds of the materials through cellular maps in vinyl and mylar prints in the form of wall installations throughout the space. 18 x 24, Photo credit Jason Carreiro
Mixed Media on mylar. Collaged cellular maps of microorganisms and microbes translation decay and regeneration. This is translated through documenting the inner worlds of the materials through cellular maps in vinyl and mylar prints in the form of wall installations throughout the space. 18 x 24, Photo credit Jason Carreiro
Mixed Media on mylar. Collaged cellular maps of microorganisms and microbes translation decay and regeneration. This is translated through documenting the inner worlds of the materials through cellular maps in vinyl and mylar prints in the form of wall installations throughout the space. 18 x 24, Photo credit Jason Carreiro
Mixed Media on mylar. Collaged cellular maps of microorganisms and microbes translation decay and regeneration. This is translated through documenting the inner worlds of the materials through cellular maps in vinyl and mylar prints in the form of wall installations throughout the space. 18 x24, Photo credit Jason Carreiro
Mixed Media on mylar. Collaged cellular maps of microorganisms and microbes translation decay and regeneration. This is translated through documenting the inner worlds of the materials through cellular maps in vinyl and mylar prints in the form of wall installations throughout the space. 18 x 24, Photo credit Jason Carreiro
Mixed Media on mylar. Collaged cellular maps of microorganisms and microbes translation decay and regeneration. This is translated through documenting the inner worlds of the materials through cellular maps in vinyl and mylar prints in the form of wall installations throughout the space. 18 x 24, Photo credit Jason Carreiro
Mixed Media on mylar. Collaged cellular maps of microorganisms and microbes translation decay and regeneration. This is translated through documenting the inner worlds of the materials through cellular maps in vinyl and mylar prints in the form of wall installations throughout the space. 18 x 24, Photo credit Jason Carreiro
Mixed Media on paper. Painted, ink and wash, cellular maps of microorganisms and microbes translation decay and regeneration. This is translated through documenting the inner worlds of the materials through cellular maps in vinyl and mylar prints in the form of wall installations throughout the space. 18 x 24, Photo credit Jason Carreiro
Mixed Media on paper. Painted, ink and wash, cellular maps of microorganisms and microbes translation decay and regeneration. The fluidity and organic chancelike reactions are captured through this process. This is translated through documenting the inner worlds of the materials through cellular maps in vinyl and mylar prints in the form of wall installations throughout the space. 18 x 24, Photo credit Jason Carreiro
Mixed Media on paper. Painted, ink and wash, cellular maps of microorganisms and microbes translation decay and regeneration. The fluidity and organic chancelike reactions are captured through this process. This is translated through documenting the inner worlds of the materials through cellular maps in vinyl and mylar prints in the form of wall installations throughout the space. 18 x 24, Photo credit Jason Carreiro
Mixed Media on paper. Painted, ink and wash, cellular maps of microorganisms and microbes translation decay and regeneration. The fluidity and organic chancelike reactions are captured through this process. This is translated through documenting the inner worlds of the materials through cellular maps in vinyl and mylar prints in the form of wall installations throughout the space. 18 x 24, Photo credit Jason Carreiro
Mixed Media on paper. Painted, ink and wash, cellular maps of microorganisms and microbes translation decay and regeneration. The fluidity and organic chancelike reactions are captured through this process. This is translated through documenting the inner worlds of the materials through cellular maps in vinyl and mylar prints in the form of wall installations throughout the space. 18 x 24, Photo credit Jason Carreiro
Mixed Media on paper. Painted, ink and wash, cellular maps of microorganisms and microbes translation decay and regeneration. The fluidity and organic chancelike reactions are captured through this process. This is translated through documenting the inner worlds of the materials through cellular maps in vinyl and mylar prints in the form of wall installations throughout the space. 18 x 24, Photo credit Jason Carreiro
Mixed Media on paper. Painted, ink and wash, cellular maps of microorganisms and microbes translation decay and regeneration. The fluidity and organic chancelike reactions are captured through this process. This is translated through documenting the inner worlds of the materials through cellular maps in vinyl and mylar prints in the form of wall installations throughout the space. 18 x 24, Photo credit Jason Carreiro
Mixed Media on paper. Painted, ink and wash, cellular maps of microorganisms and microbes translation decay and regeneration. The fluidity and organic chancelike reactions are captured through this process. This is translated through documenting the inner worlds of the materials through cellular maps in vinyl and mylar prints in the form of wall installations throughout the space. 18 x 24, Photo credit Jason Carreiro
Mixed Media on paper. Painted, ink and wash, cellular maps of microorganisms and microbes translation decay and regeneration. The fluidity and organic chancelike reactions are captured through this process. This is translated through documenting the inner worlds of the materials through cellular maps in vinyl and mylar prints in the form of wall installations throughout the space. 18 x 24, Photo credit Jason Carreiro