120598

The project uses sculptural objects and performative photography to investigate the socio-political trauma experienced by the ethnic Chinese community in Indonesia especially the May 1998 tragedy. As a Chinese- Indonesian, Elina’s studio practice investigates her own lived experience of this sociopolitical issue through the making of evocative material-based installations. Specifically, her sculptural objects involve transforming everyday materials such as flex pipes, cable ties, rose petals, cling wrap, through techniques such as repetitive cutting, fastening, wrapping and heating, into metaphorical vessels that suggest pain, anxiety, fear, dislocation and loss. Importantly throughout this project she allows herself to work intuitively whereby she becomes deeply entrusted to material’s lead and control.