Barangan hilang cetus inspirasi seni
Mr Fyerool Darma, a young artist, often wondered about where items lost or left behind had gone, and how although they were eventually found, they were never reunited with their owners. With a myriad of questions in his mind, he spent much time researching about this until he discovered that items which were found and not claimed by their owners would end up being auctioned to the public. He would attend various auctions and also explored thrift shops where he would make video recordings and take photographs. It was this discovery that became the foundation of his recent video installation art entitled You Will Never Walk Alone. The art work is a part of the Lost And Found: Imagining My New Worlds exhibit now showing in Gallery 1, Institute of Contemporary Arts Singapore, LASALLE College of the Arts. Together with a guest curator from Brazil, Mr Raphael Fonseca, who is also involved in the exhibition from 2 February to 10 April, many aspects of things lost and found will be explored from a historical context. Mr Fyerool, 32, even used an evergreen song sung by the late Saleem from the band Iklim to symbolise the loss of an individual who has made contributions to the Malay music industry. When he was interviewed at LASALLE the day before yesterday, Mr Fyerool explained that he was very happy to have met Mr Fonseca, and even though they are from different worlds and cultures, they share some similarities in terms of their heritage.
“I am really touched that a large-scale exhibition of my art work at the Singapore Biennale 2016, which saw the participation of international artists, had managed to attract Raphael. He contacted me about eight to nine months ago. We talked about our artistic journeys and also discussed the era of colonisation. “If the phrase ‘lazy natives’ was used to refer to the people of Southeast Asia as mentioned in the works of Professor Syed Hussein Alatas in Myth of the Lazy Natives, in Brazil too there is also mention of a group described as lazy as they often relax on the swings. “We were able to discuss a lot of things by asking questions such as ‘Where are we going, what is happening to us and why are we here today?’” shared Mr Fyerool. From discussing how lost artefacts got recovered, they talked about items which got lost on a daily basis and contemplated where they could have gone. Among the challenges faced by Mr Fyerool was obtaining items which had been reported lost but had been recovered and kept by a special department of the police.
It was not easy getting the ‘green light’ although this was an official project with a budget allocated for him to carry out his art work. “However, as a result of my research, I discovered that unclaimed items from that special department will be handed over to auctioneers or donated. Thus, for the first time, I too attended such an auction event. I learnt how to make bids. Some items turned out too expensive to own. With the budget allocation, I could only afford items no one wanted and this was based on the budget I had,” he said. In his prologue in the exhibition pamphlet, Mr Fonseca explained that art works can be created from items collected from a loss which had been rediscovered. This included items from auctions, photo-documentaries, news headlines and photo reprints.
Quote: “... I discovered that unclaimed items from that special department will be handed over to auctioneers or donated. Thus, for the first time, I too attended such an auction event. I learnt how to make bids. Some items turned out too expensive to own. With the budget allocation, I could only afford items no one wanted and this was based on the budget I had.” – Mr Fyerool Darma, a young artist.
