Otherness*: The Essence of Differences

About

Otherness*: The Essence of Differences
by Alison Lam & Wilson So
At Lauderdale House

13th September – 8th October 2023 

Opening hours: Mon-Sun 12-4pm, except Weds 12-3pm

Private view: Wed 13th September, 7.30-9.30pm

Lauderdale House, Upper Gallery, Highgate Hill, London, N6 5HG

Please check gallery opening hours on website before your visit:
www.lauderdalehouse.org.uk 

Alison Lam, a British-Chinese neurodiverse, socially-engaged artist and Wilson So, an East Asian, queer illustrator and calligrapher bring you a unique collaboration:
Individually Lam and So, both of East Asian origin, share a similar narrative: exploring ideas relating to being different and co-existing in the same space.

Discussion on feeling “hidden in plain sight”, sparked the beginning of this collaboration. While working alongside each other in the studio, an interactive-call-and-response dialogue between the artists began. Works such as So’s paintings (Return to the City) are a response to Lam’s wall sculptures/hangings and use of differing metals on black. 

Calligraphy serves as a connective thread between both artists; representing the backdrop of East Asian tradition and culture that both artists have grown-up and worked within. This culture has informed both artist’s lives; providing safety and familiarity but also, at times, raising feelings of ‘otherness’ as both artist’s experiences fall outside the ‘norms’ of both East Asian and British culture. Both artists have yearned to delve deeper into the realms of being distinct and how, artistically, this can be viewed as an asset but, more widely, can be seen as problematic. 

The language barrier created by this installation gives individuals a glimpse of how it feels to be “other”; you are invited to be part of the show but you are also excluded if you do not know how to read it. 

This exhibition invites you to notice and appreciate “the state of being different” in a world where individual identities, cultures and ideas are constantly shifting.

*Otherness aka Othering, the quality or state of being other or different

The Artists:

Alison Lam

Lam’s practice explores communication, using hidden layers of conversations within her cultural heritage through the collaborative process of collecting and translating recorded conversations into Chinese calligraphy. This subversion of the traditional form and use of calligraphy, creates a juxtaposition between the beauty of the written language and the raw candidness of the translated text.

Wilson So

So’s experiences captures the essence of coexistence within the different communities that he is part of; a queer diaspora, navigating new cultures through the eyes of tradition. He employs characters, words and calligraphy as expressive tools in his stories, using language and imagery that are familiar within the queer community in a format derived from his culture.