Michael Robinson, Gleaner Writer

Love Letters

Only In The Heart

WALKING THROUGH 'On Mending and Other Things' is like moving through a dream. Kereina Chang Fatt's mostly white works are, at first glance, hauntingly enigmatic. Her visual messages are organic whispers dominated by elemental forms.

Chang Fatt currently holds the title 'Under-40 Artist of the Year', having won the juried section of the Super Plus-sponsored Mutual Gallery competition last year. The exhibit, now on at the Mutual Gallery, also happens to be Chang Fatt's first solo show, an interesting fact, considering she has been exhibiting for 11 years, and has had her work shown in countries like Venezuela, Canada and Poland.

The third time's the charm for Chang Fatt, who was shortlisted twice before in the Artist of the Year competition in 2006 and 2005. This body of work is an exploration of 'inner space' in a variety of media, including prints, ink drawings and fibre art installations. Throughout the pieces, Chang Fatt's singular perspective and subtle understated style create a cohesion that bolsters the entire oeuvre. For her, it seems, there are no boundaries, only concepts.

'Things That Were Said' is a small piece that focuses on communication as an exchange. On the left, a piece of translucent paper delicately folded into an accordion seems to be transmitting to a fibre form on the right.

As the transmission crosses boundaries, red forms resembling a cross between cells and flowers appear to represent the emotional core, the most important element of communication. The amorphous forms are blood red and enclosed in red hand-drawn squares, making them seemingly impervious. The piece reads like a love song, simultaneously melancholy and beautiful.

While 'An Exercise In Mending' is about emotional states, it exudes the all-meditative solitude of sewing or doodling, as do all Chang Fatt's pieces. There is a quietly focused thoughtfulness in her small pieces, which is just as powerfully present in her larger works, like 'In Search of Silence'. The two-part installation features matching enclosures created from hanging fabric. The enclosures are six-sided, with fabric ceilings and fabric floors that gently discourage entry. Viewers have to peer in from an opening created by the front walls of cloth being pulled to one side. The very act of viewing feels like the visual version of eavesdropping.

Inside both enclosures stands a pedestal as focal piece. Inside 'In Search of Silence I' the stand is topped by a book with burnt edges. It is surrounded by Kareina's cell-flowers on the walls and floor, muted beneath fibre layers, and threads run like veins throughout. The book is open and the lone sentence on it is hardly visible from the installation's entrance. It states simply: 'Lovemaking is sharing your passion for life with someone else'.

'In Search of Silence II' has a bowl atop the stand inside. The organic shape of the bowl is echoed by the cell-flowers that litter the floor as though spilled. This piece seems to address the aspects of passion for which there are no words.

colour and material

Besides stylistic and conceptual continuity, Chang Fatt's use of colour and material pulls the show together quite effectively. Watercolour forms in 'The Wait I' and 'The Wait II' so closely resemble the bits of paper in 'Only In The Heart', the latter looks like part of the series. Her intense red cell-flowers are cleverly used, at times appearing as hearts or seeds, at times manifesting as drops of blood (or life), as in 'Mending Box' and 'Scrapes and Bruises'.

'On Mending and Other Things' is a stellar body of work from an artist whose greatest strength lies in a commitment to obeying that small still voice within. Chang Fatt has spent the better part of two decades charting an internal landscape, while honing her craft and expanding her knowledge and skill sets. Kudos to Kereina on an exemplary 'first'. We eagerly await the encore!