Twardzik Ching Chor Leng
2023 Artist Residency in Sapporo, Japan
July 2023 has been an eventful month. It was our first trip to Hokkaido where we travelled and hiked through incredible National parks to experience the wild beauty and varied environments of Hokkaido, from the mountain top at Daisetsuzan, through marshes and forests and the seaside of the East and West coasts. Fox and deer were daily sightings, and we were told the famous Hokkaido bears were numerous, but thankfully no close encounters for us. After 2000km we settled down in Sapporo at the wonderful Tenjinyama Art Studio for our artist residency.
The studio is situated in the small but special Tenjinyama park, 89m above sea level, located in the Hiragishi district, the origins and history of this park are such that it preserves the natural environment from Hokkaido’s early development. Adjacent the Soma Shrine, at the top of a steep slope you are greeted by a 300 year old chestnut tree from which you can see passersby on the street below bow in respect as they walk by the temple gate. On our daily walks through the many winding paths of the park we had many pleasant interactions with local residents who visit the park, even though our Japanese is minimal and English is not widely spoken.
The environment of the Studio and surrounding was perfect for meditating and clearing the mind of the usual worries and noise, we also had the benefit of meeting many other creatives from different disciplines, poets, writers, filmmakers, musicians and other visual artists and the patient and generous staff who would answer any questions we had and assist in whatever way possible.
The resulting works and explorations developed from our daily immersion in the natural environment where apricots were literally falling on us from the trees and the light and shadow were beautifully flickering and changing throughout the day. We truly loved our time in Tenjinyama and will be returning to continue our exploration and research. You can watch the video below which came out of my experiences and play with the hundreds of apricots the trees shed over our time in residence. The video was shown in our culminating exhibition along with photo documentation of my other explorations with the basic of elements that were available: water, earth and my own two hands.
Watch the video below, please note the on/off sound button embedded on the video so you can enjoy the sounds of the forest spirits
2022: Opening of PULSE LTA/Art in Transit @ TE13 Orchard Boulevard Station
Eleven years in the making and featured on the front page of Singapore's The Straits Times, this epic journey was finally realized and brought into reality in 2022.
PULSE' is a self-contained system that depicts the flow of resources and people, transferred daily across our urban environment, through infrastructure such as the Mass Rapid Transit (MRT) system.
The artwork looms as a visual metaphor reflecting on these vital systems like transporting vital nutrients and oxygen, pulsating to keep our body/city alive.
