‘I Have Not Loved (Enough or Worked)’, various artists; and
‘Yeahnahnesia’, Yok & Sheryo ·
Art Gallery of Western Australia ·

“I Have Not Loved (Enough or Worked)” brings to a West Australian audience glimpses of contemporary life and expressions of love from the viewpoint of artists of Asia and its diaspora communities.

This collection is the first exhibition at the Art Gallery of WA under the Simon Lee Foundation Institute of Contemporary Asian Art, a major new program which aims to strengthen the exchange of art and ideas between Western Australia and Asia, through a program of research, digital projects, exhibitions, residencies and collection development. It’s a worthy concept that recognises WA’s geographical position on the fringe of this neighbouring region.

“I Have Not Loved” is a promising if modest start to the venture. There are no large-scale, show-stopping works dominating the display; it is an even collection that provokes thoughtful meditations on how we live and how we love.

From Taiwan, Hai-Hsin Huang offers a series of cartoon-like paintings, each with a strong mix of humour and sharp social comment – figure skaters doing their routines under a blood red sky, people splashing in a pool while the hills around them burn and a family playing in a sandpit under the ominous gaze of a ring of official observers. Are we oblivious to the fragility of our existence?

For her Blind Date series, Japanese photographer Lieko Shiga captured images of 100 couples riding motorbikes in Bangkok. The selection presented here work as portraits, focusing mainly on the pillion passenger and finding intimate moments in public settings, sometimes between the couple on the bike and sometimes between the passenger and the viewer.

In an exhibition dominated by photography, an arresting highlight is the work of another Japanese photographer Rinko Kawauchi who contributes Cui Cui, a series of small, unassuming images that capture in a poetic way the cycle of life and intersection of nature and human existence in a small town. We see newborn babies, everyday domestic life, gardens, weddings and funerals in a moving homage to the beautiful mundanity of life.

Another standout is Urban Hermit, a two-screen video work by Sejin Kim that portrays people at work in a modern art museum. Each figure is seen in isolation, quietly going about their task  as cleaners, security guards and invigilators, seemingly alone in an otherwise empty world. There are artworks in the gallery spaces which they work to clean and preserve. Where are the audiences? We are left to ponder the real value of these spaces and the people who maintain them.

While the exhibition brings together artists of Asia and the Asian diaspora, the ideas they present about the search for connections and meaning, and the fragility of it all, are universal to us all as humans.

“I Have Not Loved (Enough or Worked)” seems an odd title, with its awkward out-of-kilter syntax, but at its heart it asks essential questions – have you done what you should in love, and your life’s work? My takeaway from the offerings of these artists is that as humans we are all works in progress.  

Running at the same time as “I Have Not Loved” is “Yeahnahnesia”, a journey to an existence parallel to our own. To get there you take a lift ride to AGWA’s rooftop level and the extremes of the wild imagination of street artists and sculptors Yok and Sheryo. 

To enter the land of Yeahnahnesia is to immerse ourselves in a fantasy place with striking similarities to our own but on a distorted and overblown scale. This installation of artefacts and structures entices us to a she’ll be right kind of world that is full of fun on the surface but raises a few questions about our own approach to borders and how we treat others. 

Public participation is encouraged and you can personalise your own passport as a keepsake of your trip.

“I Have Not Loved (Enough or Worked)” continues until 23 April 2023 and “Yeahnahnesia” runs until 26 March 2023. 

Pictured top: Lieko Shiga, ‘Untitled 7’ from the series ‘Blind Date’, 2009, digital print, 60x90cm, Courtesy of the artist, © Lieko Shiga