Nineteen Forty – 2022 is a group exhibition showcasing works by four artists – Pablo Paillole, Yasmine Aminanda, Abdul Shakir and Charlie Fitz – as part of the platform’s pilot residency programme. The exhibition explores our relationship with the past and how this informs the way we view ourselves, others, and build the future.

The presented works use archival structures as a tool for questioning the worlds we find ourselves within. Some works examine identity and representation by bringing to the forefront issues such as the extent to which social and ethnic groups are present in mass-media depictions, and how these portrayals are being shaped. For instance, Fitz weaves together vignettes of memories, symbols and stock images that elaborate on her embodiment as a chronically ill individual: nerve pain; dissociation; and the experience of living beyond her own death. In a new video, Paillole exposes how his grandmother’s emotional trauma from the Spanish Civil War was translated into her self-contained character throughout her life.

Other works consider transcending the singular, unified self to construct hybrid/multiple identities and new possibilities. Through diaristic entries that highlight their feeling of displacement in their nomadic life, Aminanda emphasises the potential of multiple selves and questions the hybridity of our everyday experience. Meanwhile, Shakir’s motif renderings of the Pohon Beringin (Tree of Life) mark a moment where two opposites meet – reconciliation with notions of identity, culture, and traditional and contemporary media – inviting audiences to embrace the paradox of duality.

Nineteen Forty – 2022 foregrounds the compelling use of moving images as a means to investigate the mechanisms through which personal and cultural identities are formed. These works have a wide-ranging subject matter yet are linked by the artists’ shared use of archives from the year 1940 to 2022.

Throughout the Nineteen Forty – 2022 exhibition, In Transit will share a series of interviews that will expand on each artist’s choice of subject and influences behind their works, and their residency experience.

This exhibition is co-curated by Celina Loh and Elizabeth Low.
Built by Celina Loh.

Note: Nineteen Forty – 2022 is best experienced in landscape orientation on mobile devices.