Commissioned by the Singapore Art Museum and exhibited at the Peranakan Museum for the Singapore Biennale in 2016.
My etchings and engravings create an illusion of touch. Textures and patterns from embroidery, lace, tatting, crochet and weaving are transferred to copper plates. I patiently rework them through successive stages. Some details of the original textile are lost. Others emerge through transformation, carrying memory and subjectivity.
The title Panitam comes from Pali and means “the sublime.” The installation brings together 74 pairs of etchings and engravings, visible from both sides. Suspended in space, they invite two kinds of attention. Visitors can move around the installation and view it from different floors. Up close, a thread counter or magnifying glass reveals the smallest details.
The work remains rooted in the hands. I file, polish and clean the copper plates, work their surfaces and immerse them in acid. These stages repeat until the plates are ready. I then prepare the colours, soak and blot the paper, ink and wipe each plate, and print. Each impression carries traces of these repeated gestures.
Imperfections belong to Panitam. Some panels bear stains. The acid may bite unevenly into the copper. Conditions in the studio, including temperature, affect the result. These variations are welcome. Their organic beauty meets the texture of the paper, while the inks give the printed surface a tangible presence. The work retains the irregularities of its making.
I dated Panitam 2016, the year the prints were suspended together as a single mobile installation. Yet around two-thirds had been made earlier, between 1997 and 2015. Layers accumulated over time, like geological strata. Different places, moments and compositions coexist within the work.
This long accumulation takes an ephemeral, fragile form. The suspended prints move with the air and remain exposed to humidity. Presenting them this way challenges the tradition of protecting prints within frames or displaying them flat against a wall.
I conceive Panitam as a constellation of thoughts. Its moving fragments evoke the shifting nature of memory and pay homage to multidimensional quantum realities. Meaning unfolds through many relationships, rather than a single linear narrative. As visitors move, those relationships change.
