The Life Of Others

The Life of Others, although technically linked to my previous body of work, takes a more personal viewpoint, where it is as if I take on the life of others.  This new body of paintings had its genesis in a recent trip to Vietnam. Sitting in a café that overlooks the bustling landscape of Hanoi, five minutes became a lifetime. I watched people; in that time, I imagined 'what if?': what if that old man was walking in the streets of New York, holding a briefcase instead of a basket of fresh fruit from the market? I realised in that timeless place, that I was immersing myself in their imagined life in other places. Places that I had visited and lived, as a way of disconnecting aspects of my own selfhood. Places like New York, Berlin, Prague, Amsterdam, Italy, Vietnam, and KL became my imagined playground, where I could remove myself from the pressing reality of my life. This was not an escape from reality; it was an imagined alternative, where I could place myself, and others, at will.