Transcending Borders

Between June and September 2018, eighteen master's students from Central Saint Martins and Tokyo University of the Arts took part in the Global Art Practice collaborative project consisting of workshops, lectures and site visits across London, Tokyo and Hong Kong. In each metropolis, we experienced the impact of globalisation on language, culture, trade, economy and tourism, and, most of all, how this is structured around socially and politically constructed borders. The work in this exhibition was formulated in response to our experiences on the project and reflects the interdisciplinary approach to learning within Central Saint Martins. The concertina book on display in the centre of the windows, entitled 'Consequences', was collaboratively produced by all members of the group, and is a product of our cross-continental collaboration. This exhibition took place at the Central Saint Martins Window Galleries, King's Cross from 14th January to 4th February 2019. Central Saint Martins participants included students from MA Fine Art (Giulia Cacciuttolo, Lara Mi, Hsuan Yang, and me), MA Arts and Cultural Enterprise (Keishunda Curtis), MA Graphic & Communication Design (Penny Hartley and Fajrur Rahmat) and MA Culture, Criticism and Curation (Mia Cormack and Julia Gros). Tokyo University of the Arts MA Global Art Practice students included Nanaka Adachi, Abraham Benjumea, Koji Kato, Hikari Katsumata, Nami Kuroiwa, Jeunne Lee, FREDDY x Mogumoguoisii, Vanessa Tong and Yingqian Zhuang. The installation I created for this exhibition combined two abstract, interlocking sculptures, from my 'Paper Values' body of work, which I created in response to the Global Art Practice Collaboration. During and since this journey, I have been fascinated by the notion of paper as a medium of exchange. I am interested in the value attributed to paper items accreted when travelling, particularly those I accumulated throughout the cities we visited on this cultural exchange programme, including London, Wakehurst, Tokyo, Fukushima, Aomori, Hong Kong and Shenzhen. The work I exhibited at 'Transcending Borders' is a reflection on how paper is both imbued with value and how, in turn, it is used as a socio-economic tool to value us. I sought to reduce each collected item to the material from which it was made: paper, whether it be simply a receipt which is worth very little or something much more powerful like a visa document or immigration form which grants or denies permission to cross borders to other territories. Through this material enquiry, I intended to make each piece of paper equal in value, by using papier-mâché and paper pulp casting as means to break down the geo-political hierarchy inherent to the documents I collected.