Interlocuter, Home

Extract from Author

What does it mean to navigate distance while maintaining close quarters? How can we explore collective yearning for the world outside the confines of our apartment that has come to bound our existence? How does collaboration happen in the domestic sphere as we continue to make life together in material and immaterial ways?

Written by
Jenny Cheng,
Jill J. Tan

Wednesday,
8 July 2020

Merit Award, Visual

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Jenny’s Reflection

What is your personal takeaway from your SOAP story?
Art can move or bring meaning to a person. Or it is simply to please the eye. I would be happy to accomplish at least one of these.

Now that your story has been published for some time, do you have any reflections to share post-publishing?
My art entry was a very personal piece. I have since collected more of my daughter's contact lenses. I have asked myself when do I start making more art out of them? Perhaps I will wait till a more settling time.

What did you hope to convey to readers through this story?
Doing art is a great way to express your inner being and who you are. Everyone should try a little.

How do you feel for being recognised for your work?
I am extremely pleased with myself and thankful for this opportunity to showcase my work which was something I might have kept as a secret if not for the encouragement and push from my daughter Jill. So, thank you once again for this recognition.

Jill’s Reflection

What is your personal takeaway from your SOAP story?
I'm reaffirmed of the necessity of making art to make sense of my experience during challenging times, but all the more aware of the luxury and privilege I hold in being able to do so.

Now that your story has been published for some time, do you have any reflections to share post-publishing?
I've since reflected a lot on how my creative collaboration with my mother has grown and formed itself around the constraints, tensions, and intimacies of life-making during the pandemic.

What did you hope to convey to readers through this story?
I wanted readers to witness how my mother has made treasures of the small and disposable (contact lenses), and to see how this series of work holds both the comforts of home and the yearning for the outside world.

How do you feel for being recognised for your work?
I'm so grateful that my mother's artwork is being recognised--we started this collaboration, interloCUTER, because I found that although we had always made art together since I was young, I was always the person receiving training and recognition for my creative pursuits based on access to institutions, which my mother never had. I'm so proud of her and so glad that her work is appreciated and esteemed!