19 Feb – 20 Mar
Open Tuesday to Friday 10am–5pm, Saturday 10am–2pm

Jo Chew is drawn to this image — a strange image of a bamboo ‘house’ covered in plastic and twine. It is not static but moving, with legs emerging from its base. It is walking, going somewhere, journeying. The house is slightly transparent, a thin skin of a covering, enough to protect, but still fragile and vulnerable. In some images the backlighting gives a surreal glow to parts of this form, in others it appears more like a fabric wrapped building by Christo, beautifully off white but with a slight pink tinge where the plastic gathers. The legs are strong and resolute. With black shoes and leggings, they look almost like the disappearing legs of a costumed performer or prop mover on a stage.

Jo came across the image, and its story, by accident. But instantly saw potential in it as a metaphoric and poetic object.

It speaks of the nomadic, of temporary shelter, of both the need to protect ourselves in our homes and the need to move on — or more specifically to move back to, or find, a home.

Jo Chew is represented by Despard Gallery

image: Jo Chew, Journeying Home, 2020, Oil on canvas