Soft Sculptures

Text by Maria Nicolacopoulou

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With her soft painted and decorated canvas sculptures, embodying the secrets and powers of mythological symbolism, Silia Ka Tung’s reconfiguration of ancient cultures into contemporary terms, is manifested through a microscopic world of embroidered charm and transfigured cynicism.

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By merging Chinese and Greek mythology with Japanese manga, Hindu philosophy and Korean media, Silia personifies traditional magic, wisdom and religion into contemporary morphologies which foreground a contesting naivete and innocence that inspire while transgress; the softness of the material and the blissful colour-palette distract from the underlying opaque narrative to suggest the intricacy of our human condition and natural order via an evolutionary transformation.

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The result is evocative of a comforting yet mysterious childhood nostalgia filled with sinister connotations that reflect the complexity and aimlessness of contemporary existence in a world dominated by confusion and chaos.

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