I got another chance to write a short essay for an exhibition of a newcomer artist. I'm trying to practice writing in English nowadays, yet it still felt suck. The exhibition already been opened at January 24th, at MFA Gallery, Kemang, Jakarta.
“Friendship is a single soul dwelling in two
bodies” –Aristotle-
Adaptability
is one of human beings’ primal traits. We adapt accordingly to the condition of
our surroundings: to answer the challenges of the environment and to merely
survive and preserve our wellbeing. In the end we develop physiological
adjustment and alteration so we can became a creature the way we are today:
superior, with keen perception and cognition, superseding other species and
organisms. Of course these assumptions are the general notion of human
condition known as adaptation and evolution, in which we made a gradual physical
advancement due to the abundant threats from our surroundings. But then one question rise:
if we should answered to the stimulus induced with threat, how should human
respond to the incitement with no promise of danger at all?
The precipitous question arises after observing the oeuvre of Christina Phan. Her ardent
observation about how couples/soul mates could have a physical resemblance to one and other
pop ups the idea of physical alteration of an individual after he/she interrelates
intensively with other individuals. The above epigraph: “Friendship is a single soul dwelling in two bodies,” could be an accurate passage to illustrate the
idea. Friendships are among the most familiar kind of human relationships.We might find it even in another variety of human
connection; in motherhood, romantic bonds, siblinghood, etc. When the bond of
friendships is interwoven between two people,they would somewhat act fittingly to one and another and end up sharing
the same habit and preferences.
In this
exhibition, Christina seems enthralled by the myth of physical
resemblance amongst many
couple(or in her own
term labeled as soul mates) she encountered. This fact had long become a
common lore embraced by many people
in many culture. Many Indonesian
even believed that
couples were all supposed to be look alike, and they tend to
use this assumption as a method to find mates.Barring the idea and myth of people with physical semblance
should be couple, if we refer to a few scientific notion, human is indeed adapting
physically due to a certain reasons. It is said that human beings develop four
primary types of adaptation: genetic, physiological, cultural, and
psychological adaptation. With this notion, we can relate that the physical
semblance happening between two unrelated adults could be the result of cultural and
psychological adaptation.
There’s a
famous adage: “monkey see monkey do.” This basic principle of mimicry happens
not only among simple animal, but also amongst people. When we spend some times
with a certain person, subconsciously we collect the information about the said
person’s custom and habit at the back of our mind. The memories of how they
move and act will somehow emerged and become part of our habit. Gradually it will changes of
our preferences of clothing, our taste on hair cut, and many little details
concerning our daily life. This of course would consequence to how we present
our own self in reality.
Furthermore according to some research,
it appears that we tend
to choose mate based on the physical likeness. Though it seems like a strange
idea, but there are connection between appearance and personality. The more someone
resemble the other, the more likely they are to have a similar personality,
thus the more likely for them to be a compatible couple. There’s even a
biological reason behind this phenomenon. A study claimed that partners who are
genetically similar to each other tend to have a happier marriage. When couple
with a strong basis of relationship bond in marriage it is guaranteed that they
will influenced each other. That is why couple who married for a long period of
time are mostly have a physical resemblance from one and another.
Apart from the basic concept derived from the assumption of physical
semblance between mates and couples, should we scrutinize Christina’s artworks,
we may find that there are more
interwoven element in her oeuvre. Her decision in using photography as a medium
to conveys idea has it’s own significant effect.
Should we categorize her
inclination on producing an art piece, then Christina’s art seems to be
classify into the trajectory of portraiture. Upon further inspection to the
praxis of contemporary photography, we may find that there are an abundant route’s
variation of this genre. Because contrary to the general assumption, a portrait
could give a limitless possibility of ideas and interpretation. As Charles
Baudelaire once said: “A Portrait! What could be more simple and more complex,
more obvious and more profound?”[i]
It has been
generally accepted that photography could not present a truthful data anymore.
One can fabricate an image easily by using a graphic software nowadays, and
this practice has change the feature of photography. As a medium, photography
has become more and more malleable, just like a painter strokes her brush stylistically
on to the canvas, so does a photographer could further edit and fabricate the
image as she desired. Christina had also modify her image’s snapshot in order
to build an effective language to present her ideas. Furthermore, William E. Ewing,
the author of “Face: The New Photographic Portrait”, had use the term
“transplant” to describe photography’s tendency in “making” and “faking”
images. This has become a new function of today photography: that is to serve
artists’ needs on presenting new realities, making a desirable narration, to
fabricates fiction, etc. The so-called logic of “transplant” can also be obtained
in Christina’s artworks.
Of course
outside of the “image world” we are all familiar with the domain of face transplant.
This alone has bring us into a brave new world full of transformative
excitement. Everyday people encounters thousands of possibilities to transform
themselves into new person, new identity. In her own art conception, Christina
bring about the idea of transformative identity between people when they are interacting
with their own spouse or partner. Visually Christina’s “transplant’s”
trajectory combine images of two different person to become an image with new
identity. In this case, Christina’s transformation could operate when she ascribe
her own thesis about the physical semblance between couples.
Observing
the exhibition of
“Exposition: One”, the audience may relate to Christina’s oeuvre quite
easily, because the premise itself is a very familiar conception amongst us. The
idea of soul mates itself is a very recognizable notion. We can find it, from
the traditional script of Torah and Kaballah to the product of popular culture
such as movies and novels. Aside from the familiarity of Christina’s idea, this
exhibition could also operate as a critical tools for us to examine how the image
producing in contemporary world could behave as a generator for new identities
and meanings.
D.
Tresnadewi Nf.
[i] Ewing, William A., Face: The New Photographic Portrait, London:
Thames and Hudson, 2006, Page 21
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