The space was filled with a complete minute of silence when my colleague posed this question to me. Having giddily shared my freelance writing during idle moments at work, my colleague humoured me with a challenging prompt. To choose between writing or architecture initially felt like a demand to choose my favourite child…
Read MoreLike Really? You Want Me To Think Like That?
It's an exhausting and ongoing cry for journalism when it comes to the treatment and portrayal of women in the eyes of men. So I would like to share with you a rant that I’ve had with my friends three years ago – one I was terrified of sharing publicly but now feel confident in sharing now.
Read MoreGirls' Generation 'Forever1' MV - A Review
in Social, Review, Just a thought
For a K-Pop enthusiast who was first introduced to Girls’ Generation (SNSD), I thought it’d be fitting to write about SNSD’s comeback video. After all – who wouldn’t like to celebrate and reminisce on some of their highlights while sneaking in a tiny review of my thoughts on this glittery video?
Read MoreWhere did written criticisms go?
Recently, during a lunch discussion about an architecture the architects was reviewing, I raised sarcastic laughs from them when I absent-mindedly asked if their review was a ‘glowing one’. In the landscape of Architecture media, or media in Australia – in which defamation cases can receive severe punishments, there is a semi-walking-on-eggshells feeling when it comes to leaving your opinions about something you’re not particularly fond of. Where reviews are often a poetic description and capturing of the project, and critique is perceived to be dragging the project through the mud, the opinion piece becomes difficult to distinguish whether it’s a review or a constructive critique.
Read MoreArchimarathon Studio: A Remedy to the Studio Culture Missing in the Digital Realm
I think I’ve spoken quite publicly about the fatigue that washed over me while I taught architecture online two years ago (my my how time flies). While we are in an age in that grants us various ways to connect in a digital replica of a studio, the lack of interaction among the students without the occasional dialogue of ‘no you speak first’ has really diminished the support system for architecture students (or any students let’s be honest). More importantly, watching hopeful eyes slowly lose their shine has been difficult to watch. Where we’ve been conditioned to learn physically (and also understand the importance of in-person engagement), the digital studio culture has severed that liveliness often bubbling from the physical classroom.
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New self-portrait - Pro Create (2021)
Words of Affirmation : A Year On
It’s been a while since I’ve written here.
It’s also been a while since I’ve written another reflection piece for the public to read as well. (Currently I’m trying to rest my shaky hands because I was so close in winning in Hades - but unfortunately, I lost at the very last minute!)
Evidently, this year hasn’t been the smoothest for many of us - especially for those who’ve been jostled by the ins and outs of lockdown restrictions and being confronted with uncertainty that has been magnified more and more by the curveballs that we’re faced with everyday.
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Arashiyama (2019) - Agfa Vista 200(?), Self-developed negative with Tetenal C-41 Negative Processing Kit
Diary Archived in 35mm
in Review
I came across film photography near the end of my secondary studies. At that point, while I was still aspiring to be a costume designer (possibly for the Australian Ballet), my friend had introduced me to the mechanics of film photography. Added with film portrayals of people taking their analogue SLR’s and reading Susie Salmon* taking that photo of her mother in the morning - I slowly dreamed about obtaining these mechanical wonders someday.
It would be right before I decided to move to Hong Kong for my first job that film (or 35mm) would properly cement itself as my constant hobby. After an impulse decision to visit Hong Kong as a graduation trip, I took my family’s latest point and shoot with me and dragged my friend to Choi Hung Estate to fulfil that particular Instagram Photo. It didn’t take long for me to become enamoured with the process, and soon after working in my first job in my hometown - and after the hasty purchase of my trusty Canon Ae-1, as well as constantly being asked to get out of the house to explore what the neon city has to offer, it didn’t take long for it to become my preferred photography method.
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Still from In The Mood For Love (2000), Wong Kar Wai
In the Mood for Love - Stitches in time through lenses tinted with neon nostalgia
in Review
After the podcast with Adrian on architecture and film, as well as being a 35mm analogue enthusiast, my friend and I found ourselves on a weeknight sardined among eager film enthusiasts (or HK enthusiasts) to watch the critically acclaimed In the Mood for Love (2000). A quick synopsis: In The Mood For Love is about two characters Su Li-zhen (played elegantly by Maggie Cheung) and Chow Mo-wan (played by Tony Leung, very handsome might I add) who have come together after discovering their respective partners are having an affair with each other. Already a well-known film and being partially aware of the ending (heck they already give you written spoilers at the very beginning), I wasn’t confident in how I would feel about watching two isolated souls would make me feel. My friend, who also shared a similar sentiment decided that we would become each other’s anchor throughout the narrative.
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From left to right: Paul Morgan, Elle McFadzean, me, Adrian Fernandez, Elizabeth Campbell
Photo: Isabella Peppard-Clark
The Personal Relationship of Architects
A few weeks ago, on my 25th Birthday, I stepped forward with a mic to host a public event.
It’s been a while since I’ve found myself speaking publicly in front of an audience, not to mention standing on my own and chairing a conversation. Even though I’ve been through the process of coordination of events - this was the first time where I was able to take ownership of a subject I’ve cared deeply about for a long time…
Read MoreTalking About Art x Architecture // 02 Photography
Coming back for another discussion, Dini and I share some of our favourite photographs while sharing our thoughts through the art and architectural lenses.
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