Negotiating Identity: Portraits in Urban Spaces

Negotiating Identity: Portraits in Urban Spaces
By Phyllis Teo (Curator), Pandora Wong and Jamie Chan
Thursday 9 – Sunday 12 February 2012, 12pm-9pm
The Substation Gallery
Admission: Free
This is an OpenHouse event 

Images of individuals inhabiting the city inform us about urban life – the state of flux and transition, and how individuals negotiate their identities within these spaces. Curated by Phyllis Teo, this exhibition showcases the photographs of Pandora Wong and Jamie Chan, which capture opposing sentiments of city-dwellers, displaying alienation versus intimacy, vitality versus tranquillity, and transformation versus decay.

The images address the urban realities of everyday practices of city-dwellers – movement, rituals and exchanges. The everyday practices of individuals are significant for understanding the invention of spaces, here particularly, urban spaces of cities and their embodied meanings, as postulated by spatial theorists such as Michel de Certeau. Upon deeper examination of the photographs reveals the nuances and problematics of urban spaces, which may imply the complexities of socio-cultural relations that dynamically create, reproduce and inhabit these spaces.

Photographers: Pandora Wong and Jamie Chan

Phyllis Teo studied art history at the University of Queensland, Australia. Her research focuses on Asian visual culture and art history. She has published in refereed journals such as New Zealand Journal of Asian Studies, YISHU – Journal of Contemporary Chinese Art and Asian Culture and History.

Pandora Wong graduated from Temasek Polytechnic in the field of Visual Communication, majoring in photography. She is the creative director and co-founder of Aprilism, a creative studio based in Singapore. She has participated in several group exhibitions and held a solo exhibition entitled Ubinscape at Pulau Ubin Ubin HSBC Volunteer Hub Gallery (2011).

Jamie Chan is an emerging documentary photographer. She has been actively participating in group exhibitions and won several awards, including the 2nd place in The Doll Affair (TDA) Photo Competition (2009), School of Photography Singapore’s Point and Shoot Contest (2011), and Daily Deviation Award in DeviantArt under the Photojournalism Category (2011). Jamie has also been chosen to attend various photography workshops such as Noise Bearfruit Documentary workshop (2010), Noise Reportage Workshop (2010) and Junior Shooting Home (2011).