The Unfamiliarity of the Familiar presents the photographic works of nine diversely different individuals coming together to present their point of views and their take on the world and issues around them. These individuals – students, homemakers, and young professionals amongst them, use the language of photography to create their narratives on themes ranging from alienation, familial ties, identity to sexuality.

Among these artists a common thread runs through their presented works. The intention of each artist is to bring a facet of their experience of the unfamiliar in things that are familiar to us. In the process of doing so, a new light is shed on sights and scenes that are commonly seen around us such that they become somewhat less predictable and a little more unfamiliar. The exhibition will run from 1 to 21 October 2009 at The Arts House. Entry is free. Further details of the exhibition are available after the jump.

The Arts House is located at 1 Old Parliament Lane

EXHIBITION DETAILS
Venue: The Arts House at Old Parliament
1 Old Parliament Lane
Dates: 1 Oct till 21 Oct 2009
Opening Hours: 10 am – 10pm daily
Details: Prints on display. Open to public. Free admission.
Guided Tour: 10 Oct 2009 (Sat) 2.30pm – 3.30pm
Official Opening: 30 Sept 2009 (Wed) 7.30pm – 10pm

CHEN Wei Li (http://bythewei.com)
Chen Wei Li, 25, began his career documenting humanitarian missions and diplomatic exchanges for the Singapore Armed Forces. Since then, he has moved into commercial portraiture photography and shot for clients like St James Power Station, Shaw and Meiji. His project, “Salsa” was recognized with an honorable mention in the 2009 International Photography Awards. He also emerged second for the Little Red Dress fashion photography competition.

Lest We Forget
Change is inevitable. Or at least that is what Wei Li chooses to believe when he sets out to document the changing landscape of Punggol Point. In his series of landscape images, Wei Li sets out to raise one important question: Does Nature have to give way to Man or vice versa, in order to bring about changes to our lives?

Ulla GRATTON
Ulla Gratton is from Finland and has lived in Singapore since 1991. Last year, she joined a team to publish the pictorial book, Singapore Day After Day where proceeds benefited a local charity. Ulla has participated in the first three Affordable Photo Fairs organized by Objectifs. Her work has also been published in Harper’s Bazaar, Elle Magazine, La Gazette, Singapore Tatler, and PhotoVideoi Magazine.

Possibilities
With Possibilities, Ulla wants to express her interpretation of the dilemma when one is faced with choices which life offers us and how, we sometimes fail to explore them. She has recently been compelled to face new adjustments in her life after her daughter left for studies abroad. Ulla’s work is an attempt to remind us, and herself, that from difficulties and limitations arise possibilities.

Malcolm KOH
Malcolm Koh was formerly a photographer and staff writer for the Republic of Singapore Air Force’s newsletter. His projects included the RSAF Black Knights aerobatics team, Singapore Airshow 2008 and National Day Parades. The 20-year-old is currently reading a degree in Communication Studies at the Nanyang Technological University. At the same time, he also continues to indulge in photography by taking on event and wedding photography assignments.

The unCommon Corridor
The unCommon Corridor is a montage of various Housing Development Board common corridor shots around Singapore. Through this project, Malcolm seeks to explore how each individual frame can bring about the human interaction within the space, yet at the same time, a seemingly sense of absence.

Jean Qingwen LOO (http://logue.sg)
Jean Qingwen Loo is a documentary and travel photographer who loves exploring the world with her camera and notepad. This year, her work was awarded five honourable mentions at the International Photography Awards and featured in the PDN Photo Annual. Jean was also selected for the prestigious Eddie Adams workshop in New York City. Recently, Female and Asian Photography magazine featured her as an emerging talent.

The Modern Nomads
In The Modern Nomads, Jean Qingwen Loo pieces together a personal documentary project of her relatives in Beijing as they take on the Chinese dream. Since young, Jean has always been in awe of how her uncle and his family split their time – and lives – over homes in China, Hong Kong, Melbourne and Singapore. Spending time with them has helped her realize that geography has its limitations and things are not so different after all.

Kevin SEOW
Kevin Seow is intrigued by the genres and amalgamation of fine art, conceptual, fashion and documentary photography. He tends to discern inspiration through elements of tension, the underappreciated, dark humor and the grey regions in life. Hitherto, his personal works garnered him a bronze in the Asian Photo Awards 07, honorable mentions in the International Photography Awards 2007 and the Prix de la Photographie Paris 2008.

Ditto
Sigmund Freud’s (1856-1939) Innate bisexuality expounds that all humans are born bisexual but through psychological development, which includes both external and internal factors, become monosexual, while the bisexuality remains in a latent state imbued by curiosity, this is a metaphoric piece on the feelings and emotions of a heterosexual’s process of trying to understand homosexuality

- Mr. Silky Black and M.Pot (Muse)

Mulyadi SYARIFFUDIN
Mulyadi Syariffudin has been an advertising art director for nine years. To him, photography is a form of communication not only for his target audience, but also for himself. The camera is a tool for him to detach from the real world and to disappear into the background. It gives him a moment to himself and his alter ego; his creative self.

Fade
As a parent, there are days when your kids sprout their horns, let out their tails, and start growing fangs and you start to think, “Arggh, why won’t they grow up faster.” Then on most other days when they are being angels, or when we choose to believe so, we would just sit back and think, “I really don’t want them to grow up so fast.” Fade captures childhood as it is –– innocent, spontaneous, fleeting. If you don’t take a moment to slow down, see it, and treasure it, it would be gone quietly, just like the fading of the Polaroid.

TAN Ching Yee (http://www.foxberrytales.com)
Tan Ching Yee was featured in Her World and August magazines last year as an emerging young photographer. Her series “Closer- The Tattooed Man” was exhibited at the National Museum of Singapore at the inaugural Singapore International Photography Festival 2008. She also won honorable mentions at the International Photography Awards 2008 and 2009. Her clients include the Ministry of Education and Orchard Turn Developments.

The Contestants
This project, spanning a period of over a year, attempts to question the purpose, the judging criteria and the merits of children talent contests in today’s society. It also explores the underlying motivation of the children contestants, or rather that of the adults involved, to participate in such contests. The subjects were contestants from a local television variety show.

TAN Bee Hoon
Tan Bee Hoon, 36, is a seasoned photography enthusiast. Currently a homemaker, she started photography six years ago when she had her first child and never looked back. Her favorite subjects are her two daughters and their daily lives. She has exhibited at the SAFRA “Pure Art {3.5}” exhibition in 2007 and is keen to explore more into black and white photography.

Our 100 Meals
As a mother, the photographer understands the importance of family meals. As a new homemaker, she finds out that preparing daily meals is not an easy task.  She started photographing the meals she prepares for her family to archive her daily meal delivery project. Our 100 Meals is a collection of 100 meals she prepared for her children.

Shaun TAN
Shaun Tan, 25, experiences the world with a little less cynicism through the viewfinder. Some say he has shot rockstars, slept in the Sahara desert and mushed with Alaskan Huskies. Or that he once joined a protest in London not knowing what he was protesting about. All we know is that he continues to make images that help him make sense of this mad world.

The Secret’s in the Telling
It interests me to capture moments in time we perceive as part and parcel of daily lives. Ordinary visual stimulants that are so common they no longer register consciously in our heads. These fleeting moments are trivial yet important. They present themselves in preparation for a greater event, a moment where it becomes something worth remembering. An anticipation of the future. We consume these moments without thought or reaction while they appear and disappear at whim.