This year’s Pearl and Beyond exhibition continues with the theme of sustainable development. It showcases works from students and alumni of the Academy of Visual Arts, using locally cultivated pearls and other locally found materials. The goal is to find linkages between ourselves and our surroundings.
Pearl and Beyond II Curator Exhibition Link
This year’s Pearl and Beyond exhibition continues with the theme of sustainable development. It showcases works from students and alumni of the Academy of Visual Arts, using locally cultivated pearls and other locally found materials. The goal is to find linkages between ourselves and our surroundings.
The preparation of this exhibition coincided with the outbreak of the virus. Participants had to adapt their themes to cope with the limitations imposed by social isolation. This brought about a unique opportunity. There was a lot less freedom to choose what to work with. Instead, one has to look around the house, and consider what was nearby. A greater focus emerged on the observation and study of leftovers from the kitchen, scrap pieces of fabric, single-use utensils, packaging materials etc. Themes like associated meanings of these materials, their manufacturing processes and ethical considerations, sustainability, how they intertwine with our daily life began to transpire.
This exhibition is thus a sharing of interpretations in the use of readily available materials, with the ideas captured and presented in forms of jewellery pieces. Through each participant’s own personal perspectives and thought processes, the original focus of locally cultivated pearl became multifaceted. Related themes were dissected, reassembled, summarized, and eventually materialized through the hands of the participants.