
Phuan Thai Meng Malaysia, b. 1974
Phuan Thai Meng makes use of two philosophical concepts in this painting. One of the ideologies is Estranged from the Present, quoted from Nietzsche's publication Human, All Too Human: A Book for Free Spirits. Another is "Be Water," Bruce Lee's famous philosophy of “Be Water” in the American TV series Longstreet - Way of the Intercepting Fist in the 1970s. In this painting, the artist attempts to re-imagine and re-interpret our future social landscape through these two fluidity ideologies. The artist decided to showcase Estranged from the Present and Boundaries and Belonging together in this one day showcase, an attempt to create a platform to revisit and further reading of the context. On the other hand, it is also the artist's response to the context of the body and place after the conversation with Malaysians abroad 4 years ago.