_project: black swan

(2024 - ongoing)

‘Black Swan’ serves as an entry point for exploring the interplay between representation and abstraction, presence and absence. By using the naturally elegant forms of swans as raw material, familiar forms become reinterpreted. Through its stark distinction between the black void and the white material objects, ‘Black Swan’ challenges the viewer’s sense of recognition, reflecting the instability of perception and raises questions about what we see versus what we interpret.

The title winks at Malevich’s ‘Black Square’, a landmark in abstraction and an attempt to equate art with pure feeling. However, ‘Black Swan’ seeks abstraction through the everyday drama of nature rather than the strict geometry of suprematist art. Rather than repudiating nature, it explores the essence of nature; what feelings that arise from it, and what truths can be told when most of the information is held back. Here, the swan is less about natural symbolism and more about evoking a reality that probes the interplay between what’s real, what’s felt, and what’s imagined. 

This series engages viewers in reexamining their own perspectives, asking: does the image reflect reality, or does it create a new one?