Of Forest, Sea and Mountain’ is a collection of images depicting the deconstruction of conventional landscape by three talented photographers Dju-lian Chng, Jovian Lim and Ang Song Nian , which will be exhibited at 2902 Gallery from Nov 25 to Dec 16.

Evoking a sense of an unusual mix of romanticism and avant-garde, it is the personal self-interpretation of landscapes and a reflection of the emerging state-of-the-art innovations of photography. This exhibition will challenge the very archetypal notions of landscape and introduce a fresh visual introspective of their personal constructed landscapes deliberately imbibed with intended meanings about life, technology and space.

Having been acquainted with the photographers’ works, I do believe that we are heralding a new frontier in the local photography scene. One would never imagine images like this being exhibited ten years ago but look at how things have changed since then.

Dju-lian and Jovian works as a team and their online portfolio can be seen here. Unfortunately, Song Nian’s website is still in progress (well, the last I spoke to him). I can’t wait to see the prints!

The open call for exhibition submissions started today and is meant to showcase both established and emerging photographers. There are two categories that you should be aware of: the open category where there is no fixed theme and the theme-based category. The theme is Human:Nature and artists are welcome to interpret this.

For emerging photographers from Southeast Asia, the workshop and portfolio review will be held once again. I was a participant last year and learnt a lot from it. And I made friends with some of the coolest bunch of people on Earth. More details can be found here.

As a volunteer-run event, the festival requires as many hands as possible. If you are dedicated and willing to work for a good cause, please do not hesitate to render your services. Enquire here.

The open call ends on March 30, 2010. Note that there would be a charge this time for the submissions in order to sieve out people who are really interested.

My friends are having an exhibition this weekend at the Arts House. As part of Objectifs’ Shooting Home program, I’m curious how the photographers have developed over the course of one year. Do check out the exhibition or join them for the guided tour on Oct 10 for more insight into their works.

The Unfamiliarity of the Familiar presents the photographic works of nine diversely different individuals coming together to present their point of views and their take on the world and issues around them. These individuals – students, homemakers, and young professionals amongst them, use the language of photography to create their narratives on themes ranging from alienation, familial ties, identity to sexuality.
Among these artists a common thread runs through their presented works. The intention of each artist is to bring a facet of their experience of the unfamiliar in things that are familiar to us. In the process of doing so, a new light is shed on sights and scenes that are commonly seen around us such that they become somewhat less predictable and a little more unfamiliar.

Despite the diversity of the themes and influences found in the works, the exhibition aims to achieve cohesiveness in the overall presentation through strategic investigative motifs and approaches. And in so doing, it is hoped that these approaches will give rise to new insights and spectacles of the modern world.

The exhibition is curated by Francis Ng, a local award-winning mixed media artist. Artists featured: Chen Wei Li, Ulla Gratton, Malcolm Koh, Jean Qingwen Loo, Kevin Seow, Mulyadi Syariffudin Tan Ching Yee, Tan Bee Hoon and Shaun Tan.

Venue: The Arts House at Old Parliament
1 Old Parliament Lane
Dates: 1 Oct till 21 Oct 2009
Opening Hours: 10 am – 10pm daily
Guided Tour: 10 Oct 2009 (Sat) 2.30pm – 3.30pm
Official Opening: 30 Sept 2009 (Wed) 7.30pm – 10pm

Paradise Lost is an exhibition curated by Zhao Renhui, which seeks to present the transition of documentary photography in our region. As digital processes proliferate in the industry, photography has lost its role as an objective witness. Now, viewing photography requires a certain (healthy) sense of criticism and suspicion. The artists involved are: Ang Song Nian, Alecia Neo, Eiffel Chong, Liana Yang, Koh Yee Ling, Zhao Renhui, Matthew Teo Wee Lip, George Wong Yong Choon.

I’m excited to see what’s brewing over at the gallery. I think I might head down early tomorrow for the opening reception to avoid the usual mingling when the crowd comes.

Aug 12 – Aug 30
2902 Gallery
Old School, 11b Mount Sophia
#B2-09, Singapore 228466

Here’s the interview with Zhao Renhui, who graciously and painstakingly answered my questions. I hope that you’d enjoy reading this.

How and why did you focus your work on animals? Was it an obsession that grew over time, alongside photography, or did photography inform your choice?

I think I use photography to make sense of the world. I have never really understood my own fascination and attraction towards the natural world. I don’t think I can appreciate the alphabet ‘Z’ without ever seeing a Zebra. Sometimes I think it’s because my father brought me to the zoo every Chinese Lunar New Year till I was 14 or it could be because my grandfather was a taxidermist and he allowed me to watch him skinned his specimens when I was 5.

My personal zoo visits are rather obsessive. Since my father stopped bringing me to the Singapore Zoo, I started going to zoos on my own. In a short period within the last 10 years, I have visited 74 zoos, 35 natural history museums and other institutions and spaces where a forced-meeting between humans and animals occurs. My attraction to zoos has dwindle in the last year, ever since I started to examine my personal interest in looking at animals. I realized that as much as I try, there is no possible way to fully appreciate nature or animals in our society today. Every attempt to be one with nature is an irony, no matter how sincere it may be.

We relate to animals and the world through images (photography). So I guess photography seems like a natural medium for me. We live in a world that hungers for factual documentation and mediated experiences, and this phenomenon actually blurs the distinction between fact and fiction.

While your work is documentary on the surface, I believe that a large part of it seems to question the authenticity of documentary photography itself. Would you care to share more on that?

Truth and fiction seems to sit on the opposite ends of the spectrum. I think as an artist using photography, it can be problematic to make certain distinctions about an image with this kind of discourse. I am very much influenced by Walid Raad’s definition of how truth and fiction has no clear distinctions.

Walid sees truth as mediated elements which makes them fiction, and fiction as historical phenomenon, which makes them ultimately a fact. History as written by historians, are highly fictionalized and mediated accounts as much as most documents we encounter today. They are sometimes sensationalized into a consumable drama.

Every image appears to be truthful. This is an inherent nature of photography.

I think the best way to answer this question is with the sudden influx of wildlife documentary films in the last century. Wildlife documentaries on Discovery Channel today is a bad collision of scientific facts build with aesthetic fictions. I necessarily see the production of authentic wildlife documentaries more problematic then any of the work I produce.

I view your works with suspicion, I believe that the Institute is a fabrication! But that’s your aim right?

Yes, I like to create a context in which we can critically examine something. There are people who critically examine every form of knowledge and I think that is healthy. People are amused with the stories I come up with. But it’s not as if this is about what I can come up with again and again to fool people. I do not mind if you think of it this way but you have to ask yourself eventually, of all the possible stories that I can tell, why do I choose to tell the stories I tell and not others? Do these stories capture your attention and belief?

Its very important for me to say I work in fiction in a professional context. I am becoming more and more convinced, that certain things only appear in fiction. Fiction is the place where they can appear, not the historical world nor the scientific world.

What do you wish that viewers would derive from your works?

I do not have a statement which I want to share. I feel that becomes a little like propaganda. I try not to be manipulative in an apparent way. What I do within my work is to basically highlight objects and phenomenon that is already happening in the world around us. It is a reflection of the world and perhaps to inform us what we don’t know that we already know.

TOP, Lesser White Nosed Monkey: Extinct: Cold Room, from (“Soon Bo’s Cold Room and Shelves“)
© Zhao Renhui, 2008

How much thought goes into planning for each image? Do you work in a preconceived idea for a series and find related subjects or do you work on individual images first before piecing something together?

My work is always a departure from situations and objects which I observe in real life, or reality. For example, in the Acusis project, I was inspired by how the Japanese use acupuncture on fishes to induce hibernation. This allows them to transport fishes out of water for up to 10 hours, how bizarre is that? When I was in China walking in the forest, I was suddenly grabbed by a pair of invisible hands. It turned out to be a group of ornithologists camouflaged in the forest. They were observing birds for research. As I stared deeper into the forest, I realized there were about 5 to 6 of them, it was really peculiar indeed.

I will push these ideas to its logical extremes within my work, always within a plausible narration. I think my work is actually less ironic then whatever happens in real life.

I subscribe to words like “wildlife conservation”, “animal traps” etc on Google alerts. Whenever I find an object or scenario that interests me and engages me on several levels, I try to take a step back. I approach my work as a distanced observer. This allows me to grasp and understand my initial curiosity and interest in the subject matter.

In The Blind, how did you manage to create the camouflage suit, was it largely done on the computer? I think that the defense department would love to get hold on that for our nation’s protection.

Yes, it’s sort of a performance within the forest and afterwards on the computer. Your question raised a really good point. Camouflage has always been used as concealment for protection and attack. So the observation of nature with camouflage is a relatively new phenomenon along with the invention of photography. Observation with camouflage was first used by nature photographers in the 1900s. The camouflage of scientists observing nature to understand her thus becomes a highly tensed spectacle. There are notions of both intrusion and protection at the same time in the natural landscape.

How has working with the Institute of Critical Zoologists helped you with your work so far?

I was struggling to find my own voice when I started out as an artist. It took me quite a while to merge all my sensibilities together at The Institute of Critical Zoologists. It allows me to question the power that we give to institutions from an authoritative position. The Institute is a serious place where I can have fun.

You obtained your BA in Camberwell College of the Arts, how has your education and experience abroad inform you as an artist? Do you think that you would have achieved something similar if you were based here?

I think photography education anywhere is the same. The only difference was how I was able to relate to what was being taught to me. I was young and ignorant in Singapore, so a lot of things in photography appeared to be superficial. I think I was too superficial.

After traveling and meeting more people and getting into trouble with my art, my life had a qualitative change when I was in London.

I became too serious about life and animals in general. This became evident in my work when I try to be more sensible with my images. In London, I was more open to an infinite combination of possibilities in photography.

TOP, Raffles Tiger: Extinct: Cold Room, from (“Soon Bo’s Cold Room and Shelves“)
© Zhao Renhui, 2008

Name some photographers/artists who have influenced your work.

Walid Raad and Mark Dion. (And I just found out Walid Raad was in Singapore in 2004!)

I do know a photographer by the name of Anqi. She is a close friend and a great artist. She keeps to herself and a piece of photographic work she has been doing for the last 20 years is to take a picture every time she thinks she is going to die. I am the chosen curator for that piece of work, if she dies. She is constantly clicking her camera, whenever she thinks she is going to die. She met with an accident once and managed to shoot 7 pictures before she got knocked down by a car. I thought it was going to be the most amazing piece of work I will ever see but she survived the accident and this piece of work carries on. At the hospital, it was rather ironic when both us sort of wished she died, in a joking way.

What are you currently working on?

My next project, an M1 Fringe Festival Commission, talks about wildlife smuggling as an act that tries to be one with nature.

“A guide to the flora and fauna of the world” is a celebration of the creativity of wildlife smugglers, or the wildlife smuggler as an artist. Instead of looking at the ethics involved in wildlife smuggling, the work provides a perspective on the ingenuity of wildlife smugglers in their attempts to be ‘one with nature’.

The work is based on the experiments of Dr.Tang, who brought the art of wildlife smuggling down to a science. Dr. Tang pioneered smuggling of wildlife through public postal systems with a series of experiments. One of the experiments included a book which was hollowed out to contain the smuggled animal. The title of the book which he always used was “A guide to the flora and fauna of the world”.

Where are you heading next (with the prize money)?

I think this is the toughest question. I’m not too sure about the future and I never really am. Right now, after this interview, I will be trying to concentrate on writing a letter to Estonia for a long-term project about how art and science collides in the most unusual and lovely way.

A big thanks to Robert who wholeheartedly answered my inquisitive questions and gave me such thoughtful responses! I can’t wait to see his new works.

Yaohong: Much of your work revolves around the zoological gaze and I believe that the works you submitted to the competition clearly defined and encapsulated your work in three images. In these images, you painted a clear picture of how human beings treat animals; the curiosity/observation, the intention to ensnare (for a variety of reasons) and the (almost hopeless) attempt to save dying species, inevitably caused by our own devices. I think that it is a very astute observation of human nature.

ZR: I would like to add too that I am also interested in using photography as a discourse for what you have just mentioned. To me, photography is a methodology within itself for investigating the ideas behind our relationship with the world, which revolves around the idea of mediation and the spectacle.

TOP, The space in between #1, The Blind
© Zhao Renhui

The Blind, a series of images documenting a camouflage cloak produced by the Institute of Critical Zoologists for zoologists and nature photographers to observe nature. This series of images which documents the camouflage cloak being used provides a peculiar image of man’s attempt to try to be one with nature. What is his relation to the landscape he surveys? Is he a seamless part of the landscape or still an external observer?

TOP, The space in between #6, A black mouse.
© Zhao Renhui

The traps, highly abstract forms, are conceived over generations of knowledge on animals. Often certain traps are created for very specific species according to their habits. This series of images treat each trap as an emotionally loaded object. They appear to be very aesthetic forms of sculptures at first glance. The images are captioned according to the scientific name of the animal it is suppose to trap. The audience, when presented with only the name of the animal and the trap, imagines and replays the violence in their minds by trying to configure how the trap works against the animals.

TOP, The space in between #63, Sparrow in Acusis
© Zhao Renhui

Acusis, The Ark Project is an initiative by the Institute of Critical Zoologists, the Veterinary Acupuncture Center in Beijing, The Japan Laboratory of Endangered Species and the Biostatsis Institute in Fukuoka. The project’s mission is to help save endangered animals from extinction. It does this by extending the life-span of the thousands of animals that are expected to disappear within the next few years. The process used is called Acusis, which uses acupuncture to induce biostasis in an animal for prolonged periods of hibernation. Seen here is a live sparrow in the laboratory of the Institute.

TOP, #01 Rainbow, from (“Acusis“)
© Zhao Renhui

TOP, ICZMC/113 from (“The ICZ Collection”)
© Zhao Renhui

TOP, Barbary Lion: Extinct: Cold Room, from (“Soon Bo’s Cold Room and Shelves”)
© Zhao Renhui

Zhao’s work revolves around the human zoological gaze, i.e. how human beings view animals. He is also interested in how social development affects the ways we view/treat animals. What is notable is that Zhao’s works and vision have been rather consistent over the years, something which seems to be lacking in many artists here. To him, photography is a tool that tells reality through fiction, and one must not take this (beautiful) images at face value.

For now, Zhao is working with the Institute of Critical Zoologists on a number of projects. His older works can be seen here.

TOP TO BOTTOM, from (“Chinatowns of Southeast Asia“)
© Zhuang Wubin, 2009

Chinatowns have always been a mainstay in most large cities in the world. During my travels, I’m inexplicably drawn to these places, perhaps due to my heritage and a longing for familiarity. Each Chinatown is unique yet similar in many ways. Wubin’s project could be easily lost without a contextual background or understanding of the subject. Do download the entire pdf to view the project in its entirety.

Visit his website to see this and other works. Also, Wubin has been researching thoroughly on photographers in Southeast Asia, of which you can read some articles on his blog.

TOP TO BOTTOM, from (“The Voyage to the Ends of the World“)
© Jovian Lim, 2009

From his statement:

This body of photographic work relies on the ‘heroic journey’ often seen in mythology. While the ‘heroic journey’ is deemed an ancient idea, the process of growth, change and self discovery still continues to present day.

The constructs of the landscape and topography are not of a natural environment; These abstractions however serve to draw the viewer into a timeless time, free from the clutter and distraction of our overcrowded world.

Although this voyage isn’t a literal one, they seek to mirror an inner reality as we pass through life.

For more, check out the project’s website. His personal portfolio can be found here.