Taipei Dangdai 2019

Richard Koh Fine Art (RKFA) is pleased to present a group feature of works by Anne Samat, Nadiah Bamadhaj, Jason Wee and Trong Gia Nguyen at the first inaugural edition of Taipei Dangdai, Booth F08, Taipei Nangang Exhibition Center Hall 1, 4th Floor, No. 1, Jingmao 2nd Road, Nangang District, Taipei City, Taiwan. The Vernissage will take place on 17 January and will open to public from 18 to 20 January 2019.

At a time where conversations surround world-mindedness, the emphasis of these dialogues are shifting towards values which rely on humanity and the inherent need for self expression. The presentation by Anne Samat, Nadiah Bamadhaj, Jason Wee and Trong Gia Nguyen at Taipei Dangdai addresses this and the current urgency to reevaluate what it really means to be a part of the global tribe as well as the journey of displacement along the way.

Anne Samat’s wall-mounted sculptures embrace and validate the tribes of the world. Informed by folklore and contemporary belief systems, these sculptures are anthropomorphized and assigned gender roles while focusing on the materiality through the juxtaposition of domestic and industrial items removed from their arbitary functions. Held together by the traditional art of Pua Kumbu weaving, these works conjugate the femininity of weaving with the masculinity of everyday and industrial objects, they address the constant tussle with materiality and in the self.

Expanding on this discussion of identity and gender, Nadiah Bamadhaj surveys the role of politics and the injection of fear that further discriminates against the marginalised. Drawing upon mythology and her volunteering encounters at a homeless shelter for the trans and cisgendered, her charcoal paper collage portraitures are juxtaposed against a backdrop of serenity, a demonstration of justice for these identities suspended between their reality, hopes, fears and desires that is being endangered by the “othering” imposed upon them.

Making sense of personal identity within a global community, Jason Wee dives into an intimate query of his sexuality and self. Jason’s self-portraitures record bizarre moments of self-realization, the artist depicted as the mythical cynophalic or lycan species that are considered to have less-than-human qualities in medieval times, they depict crucial moments where the individual self-consciousness is formed through the maintaining of relationships or ideas, often motivated by fear or concern. Also read as a modern folklore suspended in a moment of ascension or declension, Jason considers the estranged self through participation within a community and the persecution it entails.

Trong Gia Nguyen looks inward to determine the structures that shape the social and personal self through mirror sculptures that record fragments. As a Vietnamese-American practicing in Ho Chi Minh, his works “sNOwflake” and “#MeToo” bring to reckoning cultures of mediocrity and misogyny, while as a subversion that hints at the interconnectedness between the individual self and the world at large. They question the existence of these boundaries and the illusionary parameters they impose.

Moving beyond local bands and tribal organizations, these works come together to reaffirm the various identities and recognize the need for communal celebrations. They encourage transnational and transcultural contact in fostering camaraderie within the consciousness of a global community.