THE SOFTEST PART THAT I CANNOT SHARE WITH YOU
Transformative Journey of Home, Memory and Identity
My project examines ‘home’ as an affective, psychic space that transcends geographical and temporal boundaries. Rather than a fixed place, ‘home’ is constantly shaped by the interplay of physical and psychological, personal and social influences. To preserve the evolving personal and cultural values within this ongoing frame, my practice underscores the importance of reworking with personal and collective memory, emphasising how socio-cultural environments subconsciously shape our feelings, perceptions and responses to one another.
The work Evaporated Love (2024) navigates the contradictions of family love shaped by the absence of a father figure. Through an installation comprising sculptures and drawings, it reveals the struggles to reconcile familial disruption with the fragmented past, and examining the cultural influences on family structure.
Throughout the process of sculpting and threading, it recalls and reimagines fragmented, buried, and altered memories of my father, who has remained emotionally and physically distant since I was ten, and rethinks his relationships with my mother, elder brother and me. The process unpacks the fallibility of memory and paradox of emotions, while the contradictory materials serve to highlight the fragile yet enduring nature of familial relationships and the painful process of confronting a restrained and unresolved love.
Extending beyond my personal experience, this project also touches on broader themes such as kinships, marriage, parenting and the constrained expression of love within Chinese cultures through drawings, text and found objects. It reflects on the questions and emotions an adaptive child has neglected or suppressed, questioning how parental influence, silence, and the passage of time shape our perceptions of love, guilt, and belonging.
In this exploration, the work holds emotional and cognitive conflict, embodying the intimacy and vulnerability in confronting memory lost and the struggle to acknowledge a love that was, is and will never fully be understood.
Kelly is a Hong Kong-born and Melbourne-based artist specialising in installation and drawing. Her work dives into themes of displacement, affect and cultural identity, often drawing from personal living experiences in Hong Kong and Melbourne.
Through her art, Kelly seeks to uncover not only her personal discovery but also universal experiences, transforming her installation as a safe space for all people to encourage emotional expression, resonance and contemplation within the shared experiences. She is determined to promote the recognition of challenges that are faced by the displaced persons, especially youngsters, through the sharing of understanding and the promptness of care.