‘Strangers in the Neighbourhood’ starts in the street where I live. I took my bed out of my bedroom and into the street, to break the barrier between private space and public space, and create a space for the story I wanted to tell. A staged encounter between Hyeseok Na (a Korean painter from the early 20th century) and Mary Wollstonecraft, the founder of modern feminism, was the anchor which carries the physicality of the work.
My questions about the history of their relationship and observation of the minutiae of the meeting between them became a great part of the work, but it also stems from the virtual and imaginary space I was in. My neighbourhood was the stage for the unfolding of my imaginary narrative. The fact that it is developing in Kriti is especially exciting for me; this is an ideal environment in which to explore virtuality and physicality in a digital environment.
The Kriti installation is the mirror image of the encounter I created on my street; however it is also an extension of the locality in which my characters travel and discourse. The installation features the floating/flying bed, re-created from a physical installation, and an expanded staging of the photography telling the story of the bed's journey.
Interview with Curator, March 2010