The Days that We Wander/Wonder

Chelsea Tan

Jenson Gabriel Tan is one of the organisers for The Days that We Wander/Wonder, an art exhibition centred on the theme of mental wellbeing. At 20, Jen has a diploma in arts business management and has interned at Art Stage Singapore. He is now a freelance designer and an amateur artist.

Tell us more about The Days that We Wander/Wonder. What is your motivation behind focusing on mental wellbeing? 
In one way or another, all of us have hit rock bottom once, and to climb out of that shell requires much more than just willpower. So in order to raise awareness of these issues, we decided to use art because we feel that art is a good medium to break through thoughts and stereotypes. Our artworks are influenced by personal and indirect stories from patients that are a part of the Community Health Assessment Team (CHAT). 

Tell us more about your interactions with patients from CHAT. What are some things you have gleaned from them, with regards to mental illness?

CHAT actually had a sharing session for us and the artists late last year, where we listened to first-hand accounts of patients. Common people feel that mental health is an illness, but it is actually like your cough and cold. If you do not take care of a cough and cold, it turns into throat infection or pneumonia. So if you have an emotional issue that you face, you shouldn’t leave it hanging. You set it free before it eats into you, you know?

What is one piece in the exhibition that in your opinion, must not be missed?

I think personally, it’s a piece by Michelle Lim named "in day dreams the wounded" - all in small letters. It’s interactive. It started from the idea of a poem. But the thing is, the audience interacts with the poem by constructing their own sentence. It’s supposed to let the audience reflect on their actions, and how their actions contribute to a different outcome. It’s similar to the idea of a parallel universe.

Why did you choose the artists in your exhibition? 

We made sure that the artists’ modus operandi mixes well with our theme, and that their work flows with each other.

We are presenting 5 artists for our exhibition at DECK due to the space constraints and the artists’ timeline. Jem, Malvina, Michelle, Zen and Leanna are 5 amazing ladies. In a way, their works complement each other as we carefully selected our artists based on their work quality. We chose a range of artists – from the established, to mid-career, to beginning artists. One artist that I can elaborate on would be Zen Teh. Her work is Dual/Duel, which is influenced by schizophrenia. It examines the notion of mirror and reflection. It's rather conceptual so it's quite hard to explain unless you see the work itself. So it's like how you can't hold on to water, and people with schizophrenia can't hold on to their minds. The artwork’s display involves various angles so it mirrors how you need to interact with the world to understand the volumes of reflection and water.

Another work I will elaborate about would be Malvina Tan-Dhanaraj’s. Her work is actually about her deceased husband, Adrian Dhanaraj. It's about the way she copes with grief and shows how she explores her loss; the physical journey one might go through.

So in a way our artworks deal with the common topic of physical and emotional journeys one might go through in their lives. That's why our overarching theme is journey, because wander – physical, wonder – emotional.

Do you have anything to say to your (potential) audience of The Days that We Wander/Wonder?

Come for our show, although it might not be as "arty farty" as you think it is, we hope to help you understand more about our cause and agenda. 

The Days that We Wander/Wonder is a visual arts exhibition. It will be held at the DECK from 12-21 March 2015 and at the Jurong Regional Library from 2-20 May 2015. Click here for more information.