Sin Wai Kin, Right this moment’s Prime Tales
Acquisitions Scheme: High quality Artwork
Ferens Artwork Gallery, Hull
Sin Wai Kin is a non-binary artist who attracts on the expertise of present between fastened classes to understand fictional narratives in regards to the social physique. They grew up in Toronto with a Hong Kong Chinese language father and White British mom, and at present works from London. Sin works throughout efficiency, shifting picture, writing, and print. Initially recognized for utilizing drag, which stays an essential a part of their follow to deal with themes, akin to want, identification, objectification, and binaries.
Right this moment’s Prime Tales and Island Universe are a pairing of a movie and make-up wipe. Sin makes references to Zhuangzi’s ‘Dream of a Butterfly’, a Taoist philosophical provocation which tells the story of Zhuang Zhou, a person who one night time went to sleep and dreamed he was a butterfly. When he wakes, he asks himself the query “Was I Zhuang Zhou dreaming I used to be a butterfly or am I now a butterfly dreaming I’m Zhuang Zhou?”.
Right this moment’s Prime Tales takes the type of a surreal information broadcast. As an alternative of studying factual information, the Storyteller studies on philosophical propositions on existence, consciousness, naming and id. The Storyteller is a personality performed by Sin, recurring of their work. The video turns into distorted because it goes on, with glitches and voice edits rising in frequency. This additional builds on the concept that actuality can typically be indistinguishable from phantasm, not in contrast to the rumors and propagandic information accounts we encounter every day.
Island Universe is a make-up wipe, a product of the cautious removing of the make-up Sin wore because the Storyteller within the video Right this moment’s Prime Tales. The wipe, as a substitute of being disposed turns into an artwork object. By means of this act the character is put into stasis. On the similar time Sin reveals how identities may be placed on and eliminated like an article of clothes.
Ferens Artwork Gallery has a devoted trendy and up to date gallery which has a major assortment of portraiture and research of the human determine. Sin Wai Kin’s work is one other type of self-portraiture, providing better illustration to its guests. The acquisition coincides with a programme exploring id which is curated by younger individuals aged 18-25 from The Warren Youth Challenge and Future Ferens.
Sin Wai Kin (b. Toronto, Canada, 1991) lives and works in London. Latest solo exhibitions embody Somerset Home, London; The Guggenheim, New York (each 2022); Blindspot Gallery, Hong Kong (2021); Gentle Opening, London (2020). Latest group exhibitions embody Tate Liverpool (2022/23); The British Museum, London; ICA, Los Angeles, USA (each 2022); LIMA, Amsterdam; 65th BFI London Movie Competition; Polygon Gallery, North Vancouver (all 2021). They’ve been nominated for the Turner Prize 2022.
Written by Efea Rutlin, Curatorial Trainee at Modern Artwork Society.
