to carve an ocean
to carve an ocean conceptualises the ocean as a positive place, not, or not only, a transit zone.
Foreword
I am held by fresh air and silence. Salted winds teased my hair into soft curls and crystallised on my lashes as we played on the beaches of Melaka. In all his tenderness, my cousin would guide us as we dug a pit at the bay. As the pit grew, we found the shore to be abundant with gifts of seashell, sea glass, (and in some unlucky times dotilla fenestrata); small crabs that would nip at our toes. Fine granules of sand wedged themselves between my cuticles and fingernails, lining
my palms with salt, dust, and determination.
He carved a slender stream that led from our pit to the sea. I stood by his side, a captive audience to the stream of water that vivaciously coursed with life. Our little ocean swelled with the briny essence of sea: rainbow fish, sea snail, lala (clam), porcelain, seashell, glass who was once sand, coconut sprout and flower, coral, ghost snail, shark bone, fish scale, polka dot friend, seaweed, mudskipper, and crab!.
My cousin built a little ocean for me so I could play safely on the shore whilst my uncle caught fish ikan tenggiri (mackerel), as was done for him when he was my age. He told us stories of pelindung (protectors) of the sea so I would learn to respect ramuan. It is a gift (ramuan) to be taught that the earth loves you.
Towards the evening, amidst the lengthening of shadows, the caught ikan tenggiri was cleaned and roasted further up the shore. It was served with rich syrupy kicap manis and pungent sambal belachan. In the aftermath of our barbecue, my family sat together and sifted through the ashen residue for sea glass.
Sit with me, awash with gifts.
Show Period:
9th March - 21st April 2024
Opening:
5 pm / 9th March 2024
Artist Website:
AArti Pillai
Aarti Meyappan Pillai (b. 2000, Singapore) is a conceptual artist with a background in a variety of artistic mediums including installation, sound and new media. Her works are an invitation to intuit viscerally through the senses and occupy a space of curious tactility: drawn from her childhood experiences of braiding grass, weaving fallen leaves, tracing patterns in sand, and playing amidst seafoam. Through exploration of these tactile experiences in her works, she seeks to cultivate an embodied love for the natural world despite the proliferation of urbanisation. At the core of her practice is a profound connection to the ocean. The ocean has no centre and as such, all creatures are a locus, and everyone is a centre. This metaphor of the ocean inspires her work as a radical proposition of abundance. Her practice weaves the threads of connection to the natural world, preservation of oral histories, femininity, and queerness, to create a rich and evocative tapestry.
She is currently a senior enrolled in the Double Degree Programme with Yale-NUS College and the National University of Singapore (Law) pursuing a Bachelor of Laws and Bachelor of Arts (Art Practice). Her unique positionality, having obtained a legal education, is an asset in her deep commitment to legal accessibility for art-makers, protection of indigenous persons and environmental advocacy. She has worked closely with the National Arts Council (Singapore) to improve accessibility to intellectual property law for art makers nationally. In essence, her practice is a celebration of the natural world, a call to arms for environmental protection, and an aide-memoire of the power of tenderness in the face of adversity.