back to top
  /    /  Sarah Choo Jing

Sarah Choo Jing

SarahChooJing-1
SarahChooJing-5
SarahChooJing-4
SarahChooJing-3
SarahChooJing-2
SarahChooJing-6 (1)
SarahChooJing-10
SarahChooJing-7
SarahChooJing-8 said
SarahChooJing-9

Sarah Choo Jing

Meet visual artist from Singapore, Sarah Choo Jing.

 

Tell us a little bit about yourself.
I am an artist who adopts an interdisciplinary approach to photography, video, and installation.
My work depicts identifiable moments and characters within contemporary urban society suggesting a plethora of private and often solitary narratives. A significant part of my practice is characterized by broad themes of the gaze of the flaneur, voyeurism and the uncanny.

 

Describe the city you’re living in and what it’s like to live there.

The city is similar to a film,

One in a state of continuous metamorphosis,

one in which not only is everything and everyone animated but also incessantly accelerated.

Everything passes by and is always in the process of unreeling.

 

a sequence of events occurs.

actions are amplified.

 

A shout,

a tragical pause,

a gesture of terror,

 

the entire scene,

the complete external unfolding of the intimate drama.


I get lost as I travel through the streets–

and I tell no one.

 

What is the best and worst thing about living in your city?
Best thing :
The glow from the city lights-
Night; places, strange and quiet.
Worst :
Answers to everything.

 

Give us 3 words that describe what it’s like to be a creative in your city.

an interstitial nature.

 

How did you start your career in art?

I am, as an artist, constantly interpreting from my direct environment and personal experiences,

then re-presenting them as visuals.

I am drawn towards people

because I crave for a kind of accelerated intimacy

or connection

with these strangers.

 

I wonder about their background, their experience and the potential narrative that I have yet to discover.

I am curious about the narratives that are not spoken, accounts hidden beneath layers.

 

Everyone is perpetually slipping into each other,

passing through ceaseless cycles of transformation;

no longer separate,

but interspersed.

We are embodied but we are also networks,

living on inside machines and in other people’s heads;

memories and data streams.

We are being watched and we do not have control.

We long for contact and it makes us afraid.

But as long as we are still capable of feeling and expressing vulnerability, intimacy stands a chance.

 

Were the people around you supportive of your decision on working as a creative?

Not entirely. But – does it matter?

 

What are some goals and ambitions you have for your future work?

for my pieces to consistently challenge boundaries

 

How would you describe the women around you?

Tenacious, condfident, and compassionate.

 

Were there any local female creatives that you looked up to when you were growing up?

Many- ranging from designers to artists and writers. Most notably, Amanda Heng, Marina Abramovic, Sophie Calle, Yayoi Kusama, Sylvia Plath.

 

Are there any challenging aspects of being a female in your industry?

Many.

 

There is a lot of talk about equality today and it is worth pointing out that therein lies some confusion between the term ‘equality’ and ‘being the same’.
In order to create equality, we sometimes need an alternative or more flexible approach.
I believe in doing more to push the culture of mentorship forward to support the younger generation of upcoming creatives.

 

Do you have any advice to young women who are aspiring to work in your field?

Everything is impossible until it is done.

 

 

Photos courtesy of Sarah Choo Jing.

Website:

Instagram:

Facebook:

Category:
Date:

April 15, 2019

Tags:
5