Questions and Answers with Dawn Ng
April 25th, 2010 Yanda
With Dawn Ng‘s Walter photo exhibition and installation project around the corner, we speak to the person behind everything with some quick questionsto find out what we want to know about her for ourselves.
walter, 2010
Q: Just some straightforward and simple questions first – What is your name and where are you from?
A: DAWN. Singapore.
Q: Tell us more about yourself. What do you do as a profession? What were you doing before? Your education?
A: I cringe when I tell people I am an artist. It’s one of those words that has become so full of itself and so full of shit. Mostly, I just make things. My imagination has become a full time occupation. After I graduated, I started in advertising as a planner in New York. Due to my young age my work took on a sort of pop-culture sociologist role. I was that kid hired to know what all the other kids were doing, why they were doing what they were doing, and how a brand like say Nike could look, act or behave to become their best friend. Before that I was in RGS and RJC – yes I was of the Raffles brat breed.
singapore cuts, 2009
Q: Talent or hardwork? What important characters do you think one should have as an artist (or creative)?
A: Hardwork but it should be a heck of a lot of fun. A lot of people think hard work and fun are mutually exclusive entities but they are wrong. The best creative work is often the result of the two coming together.
dawn don’t play with your food, 2008
Q: You had a project where you cut out bread, cheese and ham. What is the story behind? Did you get any naggings? Tried any of the sandwiches in the end?
A: Oh the “Dawn don’t play with your food” series. I ate so much of the materials I swore I wouldn’t work with food as a medium again. My fingers smelt like ham for days! I played with my food all the time when I was little. Especially with the boring stuff like rice and peas. It was exasperating for my mother who kept warning me, “Dawn Ng. Don’t. Play. With. Your. Food.” A few years ago, I was grocery shopping and I thought it was funny to make a series of ham and cheese sandwiches which resemble functional electronic objects.
wonderland I, 2010
Q: Do you have your favourite project so far? And why?
A: I did a personal project called WONDERLAND I. I climbed into and floated a fleet of paper boats of all poppy colors and sizes in the monsoon drains that cut right through the Bukit Timah area. The reversal effect was surreal – on film, the boats felt real and the environment looked fantastical. Sometimes you are surprised by your own work. I like it when that happens because you step out of your own work.
wonderland II, 2010
Q: I can see that a lot of your work are showing a lot of places around in Singapore. Are there any recce work done before? What is the process built up like and what do you usually bring along and what is a must have for your street installations?
A: WALTER took a month’s worth of recce work before the shoot. Two of these locations were from my childhood but the most were discovered from setting out on SBS bus routes around the island everyday to find the perfect set ups. I also asked people what their most personal and magical everyday space in Singapore was. The playground shot is a good example. Someone told me, “Oh my favorite is a playground shaped like a dragon somewhere in Ang Moh Kio.” Do you know how big Ang Moh Kio is? Well, I do now. I also found out only 3 of these old school sand and concrete playgrounds are left today, most playgrounds are now made of rubbery mat floors, and I had to hunt them down with the doggedness of a pedophile looking for some Shangri-la. I didn’t use the dragon playground in the end but one near Dover which has a sleepy lost charm. I felt like this project really opened my own eyes to home which was wonderful. A must have for an installation? Balls and a big smile.
Q: Has anyone or anything influenced your work?
A: Anyone? No. Anything? Yes everything. I’m the most curious person I know.
Q: Where do you usually draw your inspirations from?
A: Cities. They are all packed with such wonderful idiosyncrasies.
Q: Do you feel alienated, pursuing your career in the arts?
A: Somedays yes. But I am an only child. I think that gave me a lot of training for living in my own world.
i fly like paper get high like planes, 2009
Q: If you are not doing art, what will you be doing?
A: I would be doing the same thing but calling it something different.
Q: Your special moment in your career so far would be…?
A: It’s hard to say I draw such delicious kicks from the tiniest things.
the big bang, 2010
Q: How much of yourself can we discern in your next project?
A: I think we are what we create.
Q: Lastly, what can make you happy?
A: A child-like capacity for wonder and belief.
April 25th, 2010 at 10:59 pm
simply amazing dawn
April 27th, 2010 at 3:06 am
D, could you set up a blog again? love the pics from the other series as well. xoxo
May 4th, 2010 at 11:28 pm
dawn you’re super
May 22nd, 2010 at 11:48 am
To Dawn,
Thank you for doing the art installation at Dover. I grew up there, and still visit it occasionally to take pictures with / of it even though I live on the other side of the island now… makes a difference to me that this somewhat forgotten place is noticed.
May 28th, 2010 at 4:33 am
You have done it once again. Superb article.
October 31st, 2010 at 12:52 pm
the installations should be permanent … or not