Poetry & Visual Art - At the junction of three diverse cities
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With Intersection, Marc and Nicola create an artistic map of exploring geographies, names, stories and histories in London, Singapore and Yangon.
While London and Singapore are Nicola and Marc’s home territories respectively, Yangon is a new space to both. Through this process of triangulation, the exhibition gives its audience an intimate glimpse into these locations. Marc Nair's poems organically bloom in everyday objects, which are displaced by Nicola to enter into the art realm. An artist book, based on the exhibition , is also part of the show and printed as a limited edition risograph, a technique resulting in exquisite pages with the feel of handmade screen prints. By pairing neighbourhoods in their home cities, London and Singapore, and in a completely strange city, Yangon, Marc and Nicola strive to express the secret links which bind personal and national stories. Ultimately they show how a universal dimension exists in any personal experience, transcending time and space. |
Yangon, London and Singapore: a river runs through it
The three cities intertwine and peel away at multiple junction. Art could offer some semblance of meaning .
The Yangon river cuts through the dusty downtown. We see sun-bronzed skin, the tourist parasols spinning.
Branching from the mighty Thames we witness quiet tributaries and busy arteries.
Rochor river used to parse this city, changing its direction, shaping its stories. Now the city shapes the canal into convenience, into obscurity.
Branching from the mighty Thames we witness quiet tributaries and busy arteries.
Rochor river used to parse this city, changing its direction, shaping its stories. Now the city shapes the canal into convenience, into obscurity.
History:
boundaries are not just roads; they are memories of the slow turning spit of history
Referring to history and strata of memories, drawings hide themselves in layered artworks such as “Merchant Road”, whilst in others, for example “After Oud”, die-cut letters are displayed in flasks like extraordinary objects in a cabinet of curiosities.
Faith: in our wireless world the work of devotion carries on, unbroken
"To Mecca" and "Pilgrimage"are poems that reminds us that Kampong glam was once the pilgrim hub for Southeast Asia.
Standing in Haji Lane today, it’s impossible to remember when ships docked by Jalan Sultan. Where have the prophets gone? Those who preached on the street, and were thrown coins for their words of faith and fate.
“St. Paul’s Survives.” The London cathedral looms out of post blitz-dust clouds as the past dances before my eyes.
Standing in Haji Lane today, it’s impossible to remember when ships docked by Jalan Sultan. Where have the prophets gone? Those who preached on the street, and were thrown coins for their words of faith and fate.
“St. Paul’s Survives.” The London cathedral looms out of post blitz-dust clouds as the past dances before my eyes.
Time & Change: change is endemic, almost inevitable...
"Dwelling in these moments, I am reminded that time is an illusion, marked by the waxing and waning of the moon, the earth’s constant dance with the sun. Meanwhile, a thousand seconds have passed; a man’s wristwatch slows, then stops"
“The elements that stir us to make art are flickering moments
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"The intersections of time, history, language, culture. class, are strata
A brief flash of recognition, a hint of scent memory, a nexus of discovery
Above all, an Intersection"
- Marc Nair & Nicola Anthony
