Ragpickers

Novalis Art Design is delighted to present a group show of Go Hung, Sharu Sikdar and Wong Chun Kit Louis curated by Charmaine Tam. The waste we discard and shut out from our minds lingers and haunts us. Walter Benjamin urges us to look seriously at what we have disposed of and the art of disposal itself. A ragpicker is a materialist historian who examines what is regarded as ‘waste’ in the present to piece together the history of a collective cultural identity. What we have abandoned still shapes us without us realising, much like how waste haunts us even after its disposal. In fact, the psychological phenomenon that occurs during the act of disposal draws a parallel with psychological trauma. When we throw something away, it ceases to exist in our minds, and yet it is physically still there, rotting away. Similarly, some may treat psychological trauma by blocking the traumatic memories, by ‘disposing’ of them, and yet they are still there in their minds festering, an ‘invisible’ menace. Artists perform as ragpickers of their own waste, handling memories, relationships, and emotions that they have not come to terms with. Waste thus also allows artists to construct their personal histories. This exhibition presents three ragpickers in Sharu Sikdar, Go Hung, and Wong Chun Kit Louis.