Killing Time
In this series of fabric sculptures and paintings, I dive into the perceptions of Chinese diaspora culture using forms and imagery of foods that I consumed as a child in Malaysia in the 1980’s as tools for my ideas. I play with scale and food interactions, in this case the Chinese sausage, animating the forms and giving them life to address the cultural perception of Asian culture under a Western gaze.
The 1980’s was a time when I ate a ‘fast food’ diet of steamed sausages on rice and watching a lot of TV. Killing Time embodies the essence of that time - storing away resources for the future, like making sausages. Everyday visual memories from the time are captured in the motifs. Despite my boredom from being stuck at home as a child, the work transmits a positivity and hope I have always felt.