Singaporean artist Han Sai Por remembers growing up in the forest in her village in Changi. Throughout her life, she's stayed close to nature – hiking in the dense, tropical forests of Southeast Asia, exploring its beaches, and observing its profusion of fauna. Informed by her keen observation of the region's changing landscapes, the Cultural Medallion artist and acclaimed sculptor hopes to encourage more care and reverence for the natural world through her multi-layered works.
The Forest and Its Soul marks her second residency and solo exhibition with STPI – Creative Workshop and Gallery. Over just three works, Han Sai Por has created 35 new print and paper works using technologies that are new to her repertoire. Expect photo intaglio prints, laser cut works, paper cast 'paintings' and more, which bring forth the 'emotional landscape' of rolling waves and mysterious forests – down to the minutiae of wood grain and micro-life teeming around us.
Standouts include Sea Vision, an expansive 'painting' that was paper cast and hand moulded to three-dimensional effect, accentuated by sweeps of colour to bring out movement and depth. Using STPI's laser-cut machine, Han Sai Por brings to life ghostly and skeletal trees from textured paper (In the Silence and Light and Day), later laser-etched to produce the haunting 'burnt' images in the Burning Forest series. Detailed sketches of twisting trees and branches find new life in print through the photo intaglio method, expressing breathtaking depth even in a two-dimensional format.
Other highlights include a paper sculpture series of fruits, lithographic prints of landscapes from the artist's imagination, and stunning stone sculpture works brought in from her studio. The Forest and Its Soul is free for entry at STPI – Creative Workshop and Gallery from now till May 22. For more information, visit stpi.com.sg.