Sharon Chin (Malaysia)

By Queensland Art Gallery & Gallery of Modern Art (QAGOMA)

'The 8th Asia Pacific Triennial of Contemporary Art' (APT8)

During the 2013 national election campaign in Malaysia, Sharon Chin
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. 

Weeds/Rumpai Series II (2015) by Sharon ChinQueensland Art Gallery & Gallery of Modern Art (QAGOMA)

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.

Weeds/Rumpai Series II - Wormbush ('Spigelia anthelmia'), Sharon Chin, 2015, From the collection of: Queensland Art Gallery & Gallery of Modern Art (QAGOMA)
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Weeds/Rumpai Series II - Unknown, Sharon Chin, 2015, From the collection of: Queensland Art Gallery & Gallery of Modern Art (QAGOMA)
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Weeds/Rumpai Series II - Rumput butong/White water sedge ('Kyllinga nemoralis'), Sharon Chin, 2015, From the collection of: Queensland Art Gallery & Gallery of Modern Art (QAGOMA)
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Weeds/Rumpai Series II - Bodhi ('Ficus religiosa'), Sharon Chin, 2015, From the collection of: Queensland Art Gallery & Gallery of Modern Art (QAGOMA)
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Weeds/Rumpai Series II - Petai belalang/Lead tree ('Leucaena leucocephala'), Sharon Chin, 2015, From the collection of: Queensland Art Gallery & Gallery of Modern Art (QAGOMA)
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Weeds/Rumpai Series II - Tumpang angin/Rat-ear ('Peperomia pellucida'), Sharon Chin, 2015, From the collection of: Queensland Art Gallery & Gallery of Modern Art (QAGOMA)
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Weeds/Rumpai Series II - Belimbing pasir/Creeping wood sorrel ('Oxalis corniculata'), Sharon Chin, 2015, From the collection of: Queensland Art Gallery & Gallery of Modern Art (QAGOMA)
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Weeds/Rumpai Series II - Peria bulan/Love in a puff ('Cardiospermum halicacabum'), Sharon Chin, 2015, From the collection of: Queensland Art Gallery & Gallery of Modern Art (QAGOMA)
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Weeds/Rumpai Series II - Kancing baju/Coat buttons ('Tridax procumbens'), Sharon Chin, 2015, From the collection of: Queensland Art Gallery & Gallery of Modern Art (QAGOMA)
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Weeds/Rumpai Series II - White eye ('Mitracarpus hirtus') (from 'Weeds/Rumpai Series II'), Sharon Chin, 2015, From the collection of: Queensland Art Gallery & Gallery of Modern Art (QAGOMA)
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Weeds/Rumpai Series II, Sharon Chin, 2015, From the collection of: Queensland Art Gallery & Gallery of Modern Art (QAGOMA)
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‘We are the weeds . . . we are in the buildings, the cracks, the fields, the roadsides . . . we are many and not alone.’

Sharon Chin discusses her workQueensland Art Gallery & Gallery of Modern Art (QAGOMA)

Credits: Story

Since 1993, The Asia Pacific Triennial of Contemporary Art (APT) has been the Queensland Art Gallery | Gallery of Modern Art's flagship contemporary art series. APT has driven the Gallery's focus on the region and enabled the development of one of the world's most significant collections of contemporary Asian, Pacific and Australian art.

The 8th Asia Pacific Triennial of Contemporary Art (APT8)
21 November 2015 – 10 April 2016
© QAGOMA

Credits: All media
The story featured may in some cases have been created by an independent third party and may not always represent the views of the institutions, listed below, who have supplied the content.

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