Geo-palmistry
2021
Silicone, acrylic and light box
The artwork focuses more on the deconstruction and reconstruction of the memory of place. The artist collected patterns from places in the city of Dongguan 东莞 (Post Code: 523000), China, that she grew up and emotionally attached to and make molds of them using the material of silicone.
The final work contains three maps constructed by the patterns of different places. The silicone pieces carry the materials collected from the original sites, which create the illusion of streets and buildings on the map while looking from a far distance and present the most direct and truthful details of the actual places when the audience take a close look. The audience are invited to have a “palm reading” of the place through this work and form new discussions on different perspectives of place.
This work is commisioned as part of the residency programme of Southeast Asian Arts Forum 2021. For more info, visit: https://seaartforum.nafa.edu.sg/archive/2021/chen-yanyi