Works by Ang Song Nian, Chen-Hsi Wong, Lucas Jodogne, and Lucy Davis

6 to 26 January 2017

(at) The Substation
45 Armenian Street, Singapore 179936

Opening Thursday, 5 January 2017, 6 - 9pm
Conversation Thursday, 26 January 2017, 7pm

 #still_life2017

Lucas Jodogne, Park Construction, Shanghai, 2001. Image © Lucas Jodogne.
Lucas Jodogne
Park Construction, Shanghai

2001

C-print
156 x 110 cm

Park Construction, Shanghai is a work from Lucas Jodogne’s photographic series Urban ArboretumThe eight prints in the series were shot by Jodogne from 2000 to 2001, of trees in urban environments all over the world.

Through Urban Arboretum, Jodogne compels the viewers to question his or her perception of our surroundings. To observe a tree is hardly remarkable but it is another thing to understand what the tree means in our culture and to (re)present it through language. How do we value a tree? How do we treat a tree when it is not within a park or an arboretum? With trees as the central focus in Jodogne’s images, the viewer becomes aware of their enduring presence in the constantly changing urban landscape.

All life is shaped by the struggle for survival and it is no different for plants. The competition for nutrients and the drive towards reproductive success is unceasing. In the plant kingdom, there is a premium on patience. Plants appear to achieve their goals by staying still and trees exemplify this vegetative strategy to perfection. After all, what is more emblematic of patience than a tree that has been rooted in the same spot for centuries, absorbing all it needs from the air, the sun and the soil? We might thus expect a tree to stay in the same spot as it gradually grows in size, reducing the scale of difference between the tree and its physical surrounds.

In Park Construction, Shanghai, the tree is in a built-up environment and the city of Shanghai is changing more rapidly than the tree. The bare branches of the tree are starkly outlined against hazy sky, evoking the chill of a barren winter. The tree itself is in a concrete case, secured by ropes. A bright yellow flag stakes this conquest, turning land/nature into property/economic returns. For Jodogne, the tree has become a commodity that is also a metaphor for the harsh concrete city that is taking shape. By highlighting a single tree against the tall buildings and construction rubble, the viewer is confronted by the dissonance between our ideals about trees in nature and the reality of how trees are being treated in urban environments.

Image ©Lucas Jodogne.

Lucas Jodogne (b. 1959) is an award-winning filmmaker, photographer and academic. Jodogne’s photographic works have been shown in galleries and museums all over the world and have been collected by the National Museum of Singapore and the Singapore Art Museum, among others. His publications include The Bodiless Dragon (Antwerp: Pandora, 1998), a book about Singapore’s urban landscape.

Jodogne has worked on more than 160 films over the past 25 years. Many of his films, which include both shorts and full features, have been represented in the shortlists and competitions of the leading film festivals and have received top awards in their respective categories. As an educator, Jodogne has been a pioneer in developing professional film studies, notably in the fields of digital cinematography and lighting. He has taught at the Royal Academy of Fine Arts in Ghent, the LaSalle College of the Arts and in the NTU School of Art, Design and Media.

Other Works

Ang Song Nian

Towards a New Interior

2017

Site-specific installation
Dimensions variable

Chen-Hsi Wong

In the Shadow of Trees

2015

C-print on metallic paper, diasec-mounted on Plexi panel
Diptych, 127 x 49cm (61 x 49cm each)

Lucy Davis

Everyday Animisms: Nest Infestation, Along the Railtracks at Tanglin Halt

2016

Digital print on Hahnemühle paper, nests constructed from natural twigs and found objects on site
Dimensions variable; print 117 x 117 cm