Projects
Saudade
Aug-Dec 2023
Dimensions: Varies
Materials: Tulle fabric, metal wires
About this Exhibition:
Stories of Care (III), 2023 is a collaboration involving second-year Degree students from Nanyang Academy of Fine Arts (NAFA) and clinical pastoral care counsellors and medical social workers (collaborators) from Assisi Hospice. This collaboration presents an opportunity to facilitate deep cross-disciplinary exchanges within the healthcare and art education sectors. Inspired by their collaborators' stories and lived experiences, NAFA students present artworks that aim to foster an appreciation for health and care practices and deepen conversations on art, healthcare and well-being in our society.
Artwork:
Saudade is a portrayal of solitude that activates senses through movement - transforming the social workers' space into a peaceful mental escape and tapping into the emotional mundanity of being a social worker in Assisi Hospice. Using the translucency of the tulle fabric and the tenacity of metal wires, we combined them to form flower petals that give the space its enhanced tranquillity. In addition, with the assistance of our collaborator, Ms Calista, a palliative care social worker - she gave us her poem titled “This is the year”. She allowed us to embroider the words from her poem onto the petals. In the poem, she taps into the emotions of the stakeholders and herself in the hospice.
Artists:
AMIRAH ZAHIRAH BINTE ABU BAKAR
ERIN NASHIRA BINTE RUDY HESTY
HENG YING XUAN
SHANA SELVAN
VINOD ARNAV
![IMG-20231125-WA0031[1].jpg](https://static.wixstatic.com/media/5f88a7_3980e094c555499e9b51238bca875bf4~mv2.jpg/v1/fill/w_466,h_349,al_c,q_80,usm_0.66_1.00_0.01,enc_avif,quality_auto/IMG-20231125-WA0031%5B1%5D.jpg)
Saudade @ Assisi Hospice
A collaborative work
Process
![IMG-20230927-WA0021[1].jpg](https://static.wixstatic.com/media/5f88a7_595b1062d1f941078a933e36ba17a8eb~mv2.jpg/v1/fill/w_173,h_230,al_c,q_80,usm_0.66_1.00_0.01,enc_avif,quality_auto/IMG-20230927-WA0021%5B1%5D.jpg)
![IMG-20230927-WA0022[1].jpg](https://static.wixstatic.com/media/5f88a7_1a913104e58441c6a93321f1258c8b14~mv2.jpg/v1/fill/w_173,h_230,al_c,q_80,usm_0.66_1.00_0.01,enc_avif,quality_auto/IMG-20230927-WA0022%5B1%5D.jpg)
![IMG-20230927-WA0017[1].jpg](https://static.wixstatic.com/media/5f88a7_07ef9a98daa04d668f4f8ec3b01c19a6~mv2.jpg/v1/fill/w_173,h_230,al_c,q_80,usm_0.66_1.00_0.01,enc_avif,quality_auto/IMG-20230927-WA0017%5B1%5D.jpg)
![IMG-20230927-WA0019[1].jpg](https://static.wixstatic.com/media/5f88a7_dec70b85a7204a2eb16beb7a22cf4a94~mv2.jpg/v1/fill/w_173,h_230,al_c,q_80,usm_0.66_1.00_0.01,enc_avif,quality_auto/IMG-20230927-WA0019%5B1%5D.jpg)
Creative exercise
![IMG-20231007-WA0010[1].jpg](https://static.wixstatic.com/media/5f88a7_34ed2001fefa469fa959ce87b8bc5c01~mv2.jpg/v1/fill/w_232,h_328,al_c,q_80,usm_0.66_1.00_0.01,enc_avif,quality_auto/IMG-20231007-WA0010%5B1%5D.jpg)
First draft (out of a few)
![IMG-20231005-WA0034[1].jpg](https://static.wixstatic.com/media/5f88a7_f3d6325302494131b9fcd25ec2ad0a0f~mv2.jpg/v1/crop/x_0,y_17,w_921,h_1679/fill/w_184,h_335,al_c,q_80,usm_0.66_1.00_0.01,enc_avif,quality_auto/IMG-20231005-WA0034%5B1%5D.jpg)
Artist references
![IMG-20231126-WA0003[1].jpg](https://static.wixstatic.com/media/5f88a7_5922bdd86f1f4ae694045b7b6bd702e1~mv2.jpg/v1/fill/w_378,h_336,al_c,q_80,usm_0.66_1.00_0.01,enc_avif,quality_auto/IMG-20231126-WA0003%5B1%5D.jpg)
Site visits, material exploration, set up
![IMG-20231107-WA0036[1].jpg](https://static.wixstatic.com/media/5f88a7_06cdfee344fe42ce806b93f01a23ea82~mv2.jpg/v1/fill/w_215,h_287,al_c,q_80,usm_0.66_1.00_0.01,enc_avif,quality_auto/IMG-20231107-WA0036%5B1%5D.jpg)
![IMG-20231117-WA0025[1].jpg](https://static.wixstatic.com/media/5f88a7_9d74d2d0bfd14367b61b0151b3671e94~mv2.jpg/v1/fill/w_215,h_287,al_c,q_80,usm_0.66_1.00_0.01,enc_avif,quality_auto/IMG-20231117-WA0025%5B1%5D.jpg)
Testing out artwork in outdoor surroundings
PROCESS:
Setting up frames, embroidery
POEM: THIS IS THE YEAR.
This is the year.
You and I,
To explore the world.
Retirement,
that we looked forward to.
Thrill, fun times,
planned ahead of us.
You fell ill.
Denial,
we chose not to believe.
Hope,
we clung tight to.
Treatments,
in search for a cure
That you may get better.
God, why are you so cruel?
Why me, why us, why?
It must be me,
I am to be blamed.
I have not done enough.
What else can I do,
that you be well again?
Suffering,
No one knew
No one understood
The suffering
Shared between us
The sleepless nights
spent in silent pain.
It was all for nothing
You're leaving me anyway
Laying in bed
waiting for your time
Leaving me behind
All alone
with pain that carries on.
This was the year.
Our supposed retirement.
Where we live out dreams
Plans that we made
We were supposed to live
exploring the world out there
As a team, you and I.
This was the year.
You and I lived.
![IMG-20231127-WA0038[1].jpg](https://static.wixstatic.com/media/5f88a7_59bf8fd4ce9c4ded81d4146cc55b30af~mv2.jpg/v1/fill/w_269,h_359,al_c,q_80,usm_0.66_1.00_0.01,enc_avif,quality_auto/IMG-20231127-WA0038%5B1%5D.jpg)