5th Passage: In Search of Lost Time
Gajah Gallery, Singapore
September 24 - October 17, 2021
Group exhibition
Curator: John Tung

Participating artists: Chu Chu Yuan, Eve Tan, Jason Lim, John Clang, Kai Lam, Ray Langebach, Siew Kee Liong, Susie Lingham, Susie Wong, Suzann Victor

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John Clang proposes a remembrance and re-discovery of the original 5th Passage Art Gallery at Parkway Parade Shopping Centre through the presentation of new images and a video set against the backdrop of an expansive digital print of a wall from the iconic art space. As a site of significance for the artist – the venue where he had his first exhibition at the age of 20 – The Waning Crescent Moon is evocative of a vicarious return to the now-defunct space for another exhibition. 

“Upon the walls” of the 5th Passage Art Gallery, the suite of images presented are chronicles of Clang’s interactions with his ailing mother. Being separated by distance, these images were made from screen-captures of video-calls between the duo that had been enlarged by the artist to become pixelated abstractions. Accompanied by a video retracing the steps from the entrance of the mall to the location of the former art gallery in the present day, the work bridges a distant place in time to his present circumstances in a poignant reflection on mortality.  

Through the work, the artist expresses his sentiments pertaining to the premature demise of the venue, drawing a parallel between the lives of people and spaces.