Territories – Grace Siregar

Territories – Grace Siregar

10th April – 25th April 2010

Open: Thursday – Sunday, 1-5pm

PV: Friday 9th April, 7 - 9pm

The idea of territory can be seen as a space shaping us as persons and reflected in what we do and create. Beyond this geographical sense of the term, various other aspects can be explored such as the concept of nation, history, politics, domestic space and childhood.

Territories address the construction of identity, investigating the shifting relationship between others and oneself. The construction of identity can be seen as state of flux through exchanging with others, whether with individuals, groups or communities.

‘There are two kinds of identity, identity as being (which offers a sense of unity and commonality) and identity as becoming (or a process of identification, which shows the discontinuity in our identity formation).1

Grace Siregar has developed her own means of reaction and response both individually and collectively through using performance, photography, installation and video to explore issues of identity, reflecting on and investigating differences and possible points in common. The works in the exhibition take global politics, personal themes, conflict and peace as their subjects. They are social observations and commentaries drawn upon experiences from living in Indonesia and the UK, which observe, document, and intervene meanings both historically and contemporarily.

Born in Sumatra, Indonesia, Siregar has lived in Bangka Island, East Timor, Amsterdam and Jakarta she moved to Hove in 2009. Previous exhibitions include, The National Gallery, Jakarta, Dutch Cultural Centre, Jakarta, Yogyakarta Arts Festival and Monas Park, Jakarta. She ran her own art space, Tondi Gallery in Medan, North Sumatra and hosted an arts radio show in Eastern Indonesia.

1, Hall, S. in Rutherford, Johnathan, ed. Identity: Community, Culture, Difference (London: Lawrence & Wishart, 1990, 223-237, Chapter Titled ‘Cultural Identity and Diaspora’)

Curator: Clare Sheppeard

Events: Grace Siregar in conversation - 17th April at 7.30pm