Loading

Weeds/Rumpai Series II - Wormbush ('Spigelia anthelmia')

Sharon Chin2015

Queensland Art Gallery & Gallery of Modern Art (QAGOMA)

Queensland Art Gallery & Gallery of Modern Art (QAGOMA)
Brisbane, Australia

During the 2013 national election campaign in Malaysia, Sharon Chin (Malaysia b.1980) collected the political party flags that hung on trees, lamp posts and street signs in her hometown of Port Dickson, and painted over them images of weeds from her own garden.

In this series, the number of flags from the ruling Barisan Nasional party (blue and white) versus the main opposition People’s Alliance coalition (red, blue and white) is proportional to the number of flags each party erected in Port Dickson during the campaign.

Surviving and thriving in adverse conditions, weeds are a symbol of the resolute stubbornness of everyday existence. With their natural beauty and their sense of the uncontrollable and the inevitable, weeds are a powerful metaphor for dissent.

‘We are the weeds . . . we are in the buildings, the cracks, the fields, the roadsides . . . we are many and not alone.’

Exhibited in 'The 8th Asia Pacific Triennial of Contemporary Art' (APT8) | 21 Nov 2015 – 10 Apr 2016

Show lessRead more
  • Title: Weeds/Rumpai Series II - Wormbush ('Spigelia anthelmia')
  • Creator: Sharon Chin
  • Creator Lifespan: 1980
  • Creator Nationality: Malaysia
  • Creator Birth Place: Malaysia
  • Date Created: 2015
  • Location: Malaysia
  • Physical Dimensions: 151.5 x 73cm
  • Provenance: Purchased 2015 with funds from anonymous donors through the Queensland Art Gallery | Gallery of Modern Art Foundation. Collection: Queensland Art Gallery
  • Subject Keywords: APT8, Malaysia, Sharon Chin
  • Type: Painting
  • Rights: © The artist
  • External Link: Sharon Chin discusses her work, APT8: Politics, Representation and the Body
  • Medium: Fabric paint and wax crayon on polyester flag
Queensland Art Gallery & Gallery of Modern Art (QAGOMA)

Get the app

Explore museums and play with Art Transfer, Pocket Galleries, Art Selfie, and more

Home
Discover
Play
Nearby
Favorites