‘The Journey’- SooMin Leong
Artist Statement
My practice is inspired by a focus on the transition from one place to another, both through literal journeys and in terms of the journey of the printing process itself. Each piece is a story informed by the experience and impression of travelling. The interaction of different layers with colours and textures plays an important role in creating my prints.
The collaged pieces using photographs taken from various journey were inspired by the printmaking process as a traveling process. The transition from one place to another is similar to the journey from the block to the print, as well as the process of printing with multiple plates. The sense of surprise when encountering a new landscape is echoed by the experiences when the unknown is revealed in the work. The 'gateway' of each work, such as the path or the door, is cut out by using scalpel and then photographs are layered beneath, signifying the experience of moving from one place to another. Each layer reveals both the next destination beneath and those hidden corners that we may fail to observe while actually on route.
Some of the prints I made recently are based on a few collaged pieces, capturing the essence of the journey with new interpretation based on a slowly fading memory.
‘The Wandering Wonderer’ – ‘The Wanderer’
‘The Strange Walk II’ – ‘A Forgotten Walk’
‘The Peaceful Walk’ – ‘The Other Side’
