Collecting Flowers – ‘Dress' no.240-252

Sara Tse (Hong Kong, China)

Sara Tse is now a doctorate degree candidate of the Fine Art Department of the Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology University, Australia. In 1997, she graduated from the Fine Art Department of the Hong Kong Chinese University. She has held numerous solo and group exhibitions in Hong Kong, Shanghai, Taiwan, New York, Chicago, Tokyo, Madrid, Queensland and Melbourne since 1995. She got the "Fond Des Artistes" Grant from Alliance Francaise in 2006. She was the Award Winner for the Hong Kong Art Biennial Exhibition in 2003. She received the Ceramic Award from The Friends of the Pottery Workshop, 1998.

Her works are in the collections of the Hong Kong Heritage Museum, Hong Kong Museum of Art and the Queensland Art Gallery, Australia and the Annie Wong Art Foundation. She had been awarded artist-in-residency at the America Art Foundation Project, Vietnam, 2005 and International Workshops of Ceramic Art in Tokoname'97, Japan. She was invited to participate in Hong Kong International Artists' Workshop 2008.

Design Synopsis of Collecting Flowers – ‘Dress' no.240-252

Sara Tse's installations of ceramic objects investigate how quotidian objects such as garments and fabric can be turned into instruments of memory. She said, "Memory is not just about remembering, it is also about forgetting (loss)". In creating her ceramic works, the original objects to be "remembered" are burnt away in the kiln during firing process leaving behind only thin ceramic shells of the originals. The process thus simultaneously registers remembering and forgetting at the same time. The fragility and preciousness traditionally assigned to ceramics pose another paradox when the objects are as commonplace and replaceable as gloves and plush toys.

In this particular installation, Sara's artwork has been displayed inside a glass exhibition box within the Park. Extending her imagination from this specific site, Sara has transformed the exhibition box into a boutique showcase / green-house. The result is a sensitive response to the phenomenon that learning from the nature itself has been greatly hindered by city life; and we could only gain knowledge about flowers from the dazzling patterns in fashion. Molded with porcelain, Sara has let the flowers on lace fabric to bloom and grow, while displacing the concept of "planting" into a new citified context.

Information provided by Sun Hung Kai Properties Charitable Fund Limited.

Short video