Jolene Liam
Checked Baggage, 2024, oil pastel and monotype on paper, 42 x 59 cm, £840
About this work:
A drawing of my luggage after a trip to Singapore. The monotype layer was drawn with my eyes closed while touching its contents. This is part of a discussion about having two homes – the home that I grew up in, and the home that I live in now. For me, the phrase ‘I’m going home’ can refer to one of two places: the flat in London where I have lived for the past 10 years, and the house in Singapore where I grew up, where my parents still live. The work examines the ritual of moving from one home to another, and the things we carry with us, both tangible and intangible. This project was a way for me to reflect on why I bring certain things with me by interrogating the in-between space that connects these two homes.
About the Artist:
Liam is an artist and architect from Singapore who recently completed the Off-Site Programme at Turps Art School, an artist-led painting programme. Previously, she studied at the Essential School of Painting and the Royal Drawing School in London. Before pursuing her art practice full-time, she practised as an architect at Studio Egret West and RSHP. She trained at the University of Westminster, the National University of Singapore and Technische Universität München.
Her work has been selected and shortlisted for several awards, including the Trinity Buoy Wharf Drawing Prize, Art Gemini Prize, Derwent Art Prize, World Illustration Awards, and Royal Institute of British Architects’ Eye Line Drawing Competition. She has also exhibited at the Royal Academy of Arts Summer Exhibition, Royal Scottish Academy Annual Exhibition and the Royal Watercolour Society Open. Her drawings have also been featured in several issues of the RIBA Journal.