Discovering Dewponds

By L Kiew

Sin Wai Kin - The Fortress (2024), Film still. Co-commissioned by Lahore Biennale Foundation and Forma. Supported by The British Council and Shane Akeroyd. Image courtesy the artist.
mage description: A pair of hands holds a piece of wood. The hands are painted blue, and are speckled with white marks. Drops of reddish-brown liquid stain the piece of wood and the hands.

Transcript: I amble out brief respite / silvered and still / dawnlight after nightbluster / ripping clouds that mottling / weather water’s abrade within / out to the wetness / in shallow indentations / runnels and trickles / cupped leaves slight weight / forgiving / ground where I dream / myself rotund and snouted / unlung from airbreathing / legs unbud to slip / in dark and globular / extend supple tail / moistcool flows over gills / am sunspot across silt

Sin Wai Kin - The Universe (2023), Single-channel video, film still. Courtesy the artist and Soft Opening, London.
Image description: A human figure sleeps on a tree branch, resting their head on their hands. Dressed in a white robe, they have long, silver-blue hair and their face is painted in colorful, floral patterns that resemble opera makeup. In the background, a large moon looms above a whimsical landscape of flowery fields and distant mountains.

Alt text: A twin cinema poem in two columns.

Transcript: Left: “Here is animal: easily/  pinned to a board/ they aren’t believed/ thin skin/ is swift snipped/ they have no/ abdominal muscles/ to get in the way of scissors/ trivial/ a simple / flooding/ floats organs/ dark liver/ vessels, pink/ unset/ their remains/ and light reflected/ unnerves/ haruspicy.” Right: “pithed and / on their backs/ to feel pain/ loosely attached/ ribs, thick/ or excessive fat/ the cut smells/ of / model organism/ the dissections/ gently apart/ bright blood/ kidneys/ like seeds in water/ among the reeds lie/ the broken/ on glass panes/ the flensed moon’s/ unquiet.” Full text: “easily/ pithed and /  pinned to a board/ on their backs/ they aren’t believed/ to feel pain/ thin skin/ loosely attached/ is swift snipped/ they have no/ ribs, thick/ abdominal muscles/ or excessive fat/ to get in the way of scissors/ the cut smells/ trivial/ of / a simple / model organism/ flooding/ the dissections/ floats organs/ gently apart/ dark liver/ bright blood/ vessels, pink/ kidneys/ unset/ like seeds in water/ among the reeds lie/ their remains/ the broken/ and light reflected/ on glass panes/ unnerves/ the flensed moon’s/ haruspicy/ unquiet”

Sin Wai Kin - A Dream of Wholeness in Parts (2021), Film still. Courtesy the artist, Chi-Wen Gallery, Taipei and Soft Opening, London. Produced by Chi-Wen Productions, Taipei. Supported by Hayward Gallery Touring for British Art Show 9. 
Image description: A human figure with short, light-blue hair glances upwards, at a tree trunk. Their face is painted with intricate, colorful patterns that feature a flower. 

Alt text: a poem porous with spaces.

Transcript: “What if (after Claudia Rankine): a tongueclutch how does one croak what if/ what does it mean a decision to live while choking/ if a body be galvanised jerking flailing flop/ what of cells contorting as frog rearranged strange/ leaps brightgreenleaf to muddied pool adjusts hue/ to match trusts to keep hidden what of biliverdin/ this lifetime conscious of skin what if melancholy/ is tadpole to malevolency what if metamorphs/ face stoneshut drownings harsh seasons’ haze/ what if to shout for change under imperatives/ is breathing in conditionals gauged deranged/ what if what we want from you is for us to be/ not slapdownflat sundrippedstilled saltrumoured/ which is your problem alluvial what if/ rage widejawed what if no longer eyeless/ underwatered what if estranged from marsh/ selves we can keep dreaming our song/ from antediluvian to ululation what if belief/ hops froglet stretches unclutches shoots more than tongue”

Sin Wai Kin - Maybe once you were a planet (2019), Makeup on facial wipe. Courtesy the artist.
Image description: A painting rendered on a thin, white surface is displayed in a transparent frame against a white background. The painting depicts colorful patterns rendered in blue, green, red, and yellow, which form an abstract, human face with long eyes and red lips. The face is decorated with a flower on its forehead and curving lines resembling mountains above its eyes.

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L Kiew is a London-based poet of Chinese-Malaysian heritage. She works as a charity sector leader and accountant. She holds a MSc in Creative Writing and Literary Studies from Edinburgh University. Her debut pamphlet The Unquiet was published by Offord Road Books in 2019. She was a 2019/2020 London Library Emerging Writer and L Kiew’s first collection More than Weeds was published by Nine Arches Press in 2023.

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Sin Wai Kin (b. 1991, Toronto, CA) brings fantasy to life through storytelling in moving image, performance, writing, and print. Drawing on experiences of binary categories, their work realizes alternate worlds to describe lived experiences of desire, identification and consciousness. 

The artist is nominated for the 2024 Jarman award for their film works Dreaming the End (2023) and The Breaking Story (2022). They were the recipient of the 24th Baloise Art Prize at Art Basel 2023 for their film series Portraits (2023). Their film, A Dream of Wholeness in Parts (2021) was nominated for the 2022 Turner Prize, and included in the touring exhibition the British Art Show 9, as well as being screened at the British Film Institute’s 65th London Film Festival.

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