Exactly Foundation Exhibit 11

Featuring With and Without You by Geraldine Kang and Drink It While It’s Hot by Hu Qiren

22 Aug – 1 Sep 2024
Lower Gallery 1, Objectifs
Free admission

Related events
Opening and book launches | Thu 22 Aug, 6.30pm – 9pm
Guest of Honor: Kennie Ting, author of The Great Port Cities of Asia; formerly director Asia Civilizations Museum/Peranakan Museum

Artist Talk with Geraldine Kang and Hu Qiren | Thu 22 Aug, 7.30pm (Please RSVP here)

With and Without You by Geraldine Kang

With and Without You is an intimate exploration of the relationships between Singapore-based individuals, their families, and the foreign domestic workers they employ. It aims to offer an impression of what it is that domestic helpers ‘fill up’ or ‘fill in’ for each family they work for, and to ultimately provide suggestions to a less discussed angle — what ‘healthy’ or ‘good’ employment can or should look like, and what are the implications that even good employment has on both parties. These images and stories therefore hopefully serve as a foil to the familiar criminal or tragic cases that are circulated in the news and other media.

Every family and their employee is approached on the knowledge that the relations between them are largely positive such as having harmonious communication, a strong semblance of inclusion, and a clear sense of employee’s rights within the home. All parties are first invited to have a candid chat on their reasons for hiring their helper and to reflect on how this has affected their family. The employee is also invited to share their work experiences and reflections on being a domestic helper. Thereafter, photographs will be taken based on the interview content and comfort levels of each family and employee. Each set of photographs created will be read alongside text drawn from the formal interviews and other conversations.

Drink It While It’s Hot by Hu Qiren

Over the history of more than 3000 years, traditional Chinese medicine has be-wildered many but has also benefitted countless. An integral part of local life, it is also a symbol of our culture and tradition.

Despite Singapore’s public healthcare arena being dominated by Western medicine, there is an increasing acceptance and recognition of the role of TCM to treat and prevent diseases. Beyond our shores, TCM is undergoing a revival as reported by the World Health Organization in its Global Report on Traditional and Complementary Medicine 2019, given the unique health challenges of the 21st century.

As an extension of my family history and research into the growing trend and practice of TCM, I created a series of images to question notions of belief systems, authenticity and more specifically, value and consumer-driven desire for better health. Centered around establishments in Albert Court Wholesale Market and Fu Lu Shou Complex, Drink it While it’s Hot invites viewers to also consider the trade and market of ancient wisdom in keeping our body functioning and in balance.

Both exhibition catalogues are available for free download via the Exactly Foundation website, please scan the QR codes below to download the catalogues. Hard copies of the catalogues are available for purchase from Li Li via zachli@yahoo.com, both catalogues are priced at $40.

About Geraldine Kang

Geraldine Kang has exhibited in Singapore, Europe and Asia. Her most notable exhibitions include group exhibitions at the Tokyo Photographic Art Museum, the Taipei Artists’ Village, as well as the ifa-Galerie in Berlin and Stuttgart. She has staged solo presentations at the Institution of Contemporary Art Singapore, Grey Projects and the Nanyang Technological University Centre for Contemporary Art. She was the 2011 winner of the Kwek Leng Joo Excellence in Still Photography prize, and has been featured at the Women in Film & Photography 2023 showcase, the Kuala Lumpur International Photo Awards, Photographer’s Forum, Px3 and the Asian Women Photographers’ Showcase. Geraldine was a recipient of the National Arts Council Arts Scholarship for Graduate Studies in 2017 and attained her MFA in Fine Arts from Parsons School of Design, The New School.

About Hu Qiren

Hu Qiren (b. 1983) is a visual artist whose practice explores the myriad forms of image making, incorporating a wide range of media, including photography, video, installation and performance. Expressing a vibrant visual vocabulary inspired by his own identity and tradition, Qiren synthesizes cultural binaries, while incessantly challenging notions of authenticity, belief and value systems.

Qiren completed his MFA in Photography and Related Media at Parsons The New School for Design under the Provost scholarship in 2015 and has showcased his works at the One World Trade Center, Queens Museum, Aperture Foundation and Photoville in New York, Louvre Museum in Paris, Singapore International Photography Festival, Pingyao International Photography Festival in China, Auckland Festival of Photography and at the Theory of Clouds Gallery & Community Worldwide in Kobe, Japan. In 2016, Qiren was the grand winner of the Harper’s BAZAAR Art Prize.