Monday, March 12, 2012

Lois Goh, Poet

Artists - Genavieve Charette and Kirsten Glowacki


Singapore officially the Republic of Singapore, is a Southeast Asian city-state off the southern tip of the Malay Peninsula, 137 kilometres (85 mi) north of the equator. The country has the world's third highest GDP PPP per capita of US$59,936, making Singapore one of the world's wealthiest countries.

During World War II, the Imperial Japanese Army invaded Malaya culminating in the Battle of Singapore. The Japanese occupied Singapore until the British repossessed it in September 1945 after the Japanese surrender.

During the Japanese Occupation, the Chinese people living in Singapore were tortured very badly, one war heroine was Elizabeth Choy who lived through the Japanese Occupation and never revealed any names even though she was being tortured.



I Look Into The Mirror

永不放弃 (yǒng bù fàng qì)
Removing my hairclip from my thinning black hair
Hair that the kempeitai had used to drag me around the cell.
My body going over the metal nails and nettles left behind by
the other Japanese soldiers. My skin so bloody and raw.

天无绝人之路 (tiān wú jué rén zhī lù)
Unhooking my pearl earrings from my Buddha earlobes
Earlobes that the monsters had wires attached to, the electricity
coursing through my body, death standing innocently by my side.
The electricity making my body contort as my husband watched.

自助者天助 (Zì zhù zhě tiān zhù)
Unzipping and stepping out of my incandescent blue qipao
Qipao, ripped and wet from the daily water exercises. They pumped
me with litres of water until my belly grew big then they bashed my
belly in with the butts of their bayonets. Over and over. And over.

死马当活马医 (si ma dang huo ma yi)
Peeling off my embroidered chinese bib and silk panties
Panties that smell and are stained. The pain had been too much for
me to bear. Defecation. Involuntary urination. The smell rises in the
cell and flirts with the other stenches. I cannot take it. Regurgitation.


I have broken out of no. 4, I have escaped death.
I will pose nude today for sculptress, Dora Gordine.
I am Elizabeth Choy and one must not be prudish.




Kirsten Glowacki
Mixed Media
Measures approx. 16" high, 12" wide and 10" deep.














Genavieve Charette
Mixed Media
Statement: Each object was broken into small pieces and glued back together.  A pearl rests inside each object and the viewer is able to peer inside an unpatched hole.  Inside the first object the pearl rests on tangled wire, the second object has a pearl floating in water and the third contains a pearl resting on a nails.  A link to Genavieve's blog showing her notes and process coming soon.  Here is a peek at the notes.



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