Chang Yoong Chia was packing his stuff into boxes and getting ready to leave Kuala Lumpur for greener pastures, when he stumbled upon an artwork he created in 2015.
Meat On The Chopping Board, comprising watercolour works on wooden chopping boards dangling on hooks, was a way for Chang to express how he felt trapped in the political and economic circumstances of those times.
“That time passed and the artwork was never shown in public and almost forgotten. Strangely, recovering this artwork now uncannily gives it new life and meaning. My wife and I were in the process of moving out of Kuala Lumpur to start a new life elsewhere when the conditional movement control order (CMCO) was enforced again. Like everyone else, our plans had to be delayed and we are stuck here again. But life goes on,” says Chang.
A reconstructed 2020 version of Meat On The Chopping Board, currently exhibiting at KongsiKL arts warehouse space, is available for viewing this month.
Chang likens the precarious way in which the installation is balanced, to the state of imbalance and anxiety he feels.
“The title of this artwork is a phrase which refers to being caught in a perilous situation where there is no escape unless the other party is merciful,” he says.
In Meat On The Chopping Board, we see how Chang juxtaposes the “softness” of watercolour against the hard, unyielding surfaces of the chopping boards.
“It is an unforgiving surface where the physical body is being violently reduced. I also like the idea of the vanished medium of ‘water in ‘watercolour’. The 'water' makes its contribution and is then gone. What is left is the ‘colour’. Like art, so much of what happens is unseen,” he says.
As for the meat hooks, he expresses fascination with how people are seemingly not bothered by the “unappetising” sight of meat for sale displayed this way.
“For me, meat hooks also allude to physical harm and pain, which in turn allude to people being hung, alluding further to crucifixes. However the crucifixes that were once a display of violent punishment, now become a symbol of sacrifice and salvation. I like the idea of how displays can change its meaning with time and through repeated viewings. Something negative could be positive in the future and vice versa,” he elaborates.
Chang adds that the vast and empty interior of KongsiKL’s space where Meat On The Chopping Board is being displayed, serves to accentuate and elevate “the loneliness, the helplessness, the unseen virus, the politikuses and other vermin”.
“Just hang on!” he says.
After all, it isn’t like we have much choice.
Meat On The Chopping Board at KongsiKL is open by appointment only. Contact Jun Yi at 012-2316670. More info here.
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