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Phuan Thai Meng Malaysia, b. 1974
There are 4 paintings in the “Imagined Home(Land)” series. “Imagined Home(Land)” series is about the fluidity of identities, cultural hybridity and the imaginations of the new social and family structure. When we look closer into how different people were migrated to the country through the trading ports a long time ago, you will realize that the identities of our people have constantly been under construction. The whole society comes from an amalgamation of different people and cultures.
Although we have many differences, but it could be the differences that make us differences but the same. On the other hand, what defines our identity, meaning of home, homeland? Can we have some other different definition?
The artist intentionally created layers of reading for those paintings. On the surface of canvas, there are photographic pieces of family portraits held together by tape but when you look closer the subject appears to be formed by juxtaposing together from a random feature of people from different ethnicity, class and nationality. In this “Imagined Home(Land)” series, the backgrounds are designed to reflect the different periods of time, cultures and the people’s belonging.