HeadSpace (2004)

displaced | distance | disparity | discontinuity | distort | disengage

In HeadSpace, I processed my own feelings and responses to a space (Hong Kong) that is physical, emotional and conceptual, mirroring in reverse my father's journey to and relation with an-other space (UK). This work evolved from my own sense of journeying within that society over a period of 15 years including multiple trips and periods of residence. HeadSpace can be read as a very personal response to Hong Kong, its community and its built environment on one level; as much as it could be read as a response to the change and transition of sovereignty in 1997 and the seeming lack of clarity and direction, the fear and ambivalence, generated by this monumental event which prevaded society and its peoples after so many years of distancing colonial rule.

"...the concept of home has always been problematic. I have never felt fully comfortable nor acknowledged in either culture or place (UK and Hong Kong). Even more so in Hong Kong, where this feeling of denial is heightened; I feel as if I inhabit a space of ambiguity, nothing is fixed, a neither/nor status. For me there is no definite defined space called home. And my cultural positioning (father Hong Kong born Hakka, mother English) and related experiences, have led me to constantly rethink my own ideas about a sense of home place (and space) and provided myself with a critical viewpoint from which to crucially explore these notions".

HeadSpace reflects my physical and emotional journeying within that society and my ambiguous relationship of intimacy and distance encountered within this (un) real third space. HeadSpace conjures up feelings of detachment and cultural anxiety in postcolonial times, and is a work of transition, ultimately reflecting my struggle to reconcile cultural recognition and reconnect with my own sense of being and belief. These experiences have directly informed this piece for the Home exhibition shown at the Chinese Arts Centre. HeadSpace consisted of a 3-walled enclosure with 2 mechanical slide projections and 2 large scale prints.

HeadSpace consists of 41 colour tranparency images and was commissioned by the Chinese Arts Centre.