Walk into Creative Space’s gallery, turn a corner, and feast your eyes on the specimen: “Human Eggshells”. Another egg brought into the gallery by Faizal Hamdan, the very same artist that brought ‘Talur’ in EMERGE 4: SYNESTHESIA, but this time, he brings one that has “hatched”. Two halves of an egg shell, immersed in a jar of water, set on a plinth where light shone through it, looks not unlike a biological lab specimen. Mimicking a lab specimen, the jar is also labelled as such:
“FH296
HUMAN EGGSHELLS
BRUNEI, 1975”
Presented as a specimen, the artist plays upon the mythical story of the origin of the line of the Sultans of Brunei. According to one folklore, Sang Aji, without an heir, was pacing his palace grounds troubled when he came upon a human sized egg. He took the egg inside his palace and it hatched revealing a boy. Soon after, Sang Aji’s wife became pregnant and she gave birth to a daughter whom Sang Aji marries to the man who hatched from the egg. The son from this couple is said to be Awang Alak Betatar. Although history has denied the truth of this story, it does remain primarily as a folklore and secondly can be taken metaphorically: the status quo of the Brunei sultans. They may not come from the skies, but they are of “higher” status than the civilians and should be respected so.
Faizal Hamdan is known to make his artwork both a serious thing and one filled with humour. The artist’s “Human Eggshells” is no exception. The current artwork plays on the human perception and belief toward what is real versus what is man-made or merely a fantasy. During an interview, Faizal Hamdan explains how he approached the theme of the current exhibition, “the word ‘folklore’ itself, the word presents real and unreal. And there’s no evidence of this event [human emerging from egg]. That’s why I present my work as if it’s an evidence, a specimen from a bio lab. To make people think, “is it real?” Had I not said to you that “I use egg” but instead say “I found it”, you will believe it right? Cause you don’t know whether it’s true or not. So, that’s the idea of this whole presentation […] So imagine, you found this article in the newspaper “Human Eggshell Found in Brunei” in 1975. So, will people believe it or not?”
The shells are not made of egg as he initially joked, but made up of polyurethane varnish and a mixture of glue, with the Kinder Egg used as the mould for it. A few asked about the choices of the mould and the artist replied with, “in the story it’s like a magical egg right, so I use this as the element of surprise. We don’t know what’s inside… When you buy kinder eggs, you don’t know what’s inside. […] I like this egg, because it splits into two and you get that surprise. That’s the symbol of the magical egg”. However, at the same time, by using a man-made to replicate something ‘magical’ the artist creates a falseness to the story. By using a man-made item to mould his art, he again plays with his “real vs man-made” concept and how folklore should not be taken literally.
Faizal Hamdan’s “Human Eggshells” is up for public viewing under the EMERGE 5: FOLKLORE which runs from the 11th of March 2018 until the 31st of May 2018 at Creative Space Art Studio & Gallery at Sengkurong. There are 9 other artists whose artworks are displayed together with Faizal Hamdan’s artworks and members of the public are encouraged to visit to support the local art community.
The EMERGE Project is one of the Creative Space Art Gallery & Studio’s initiative to foster, contribute, facilitate, and promote sustainable practices in our local art community. The gallery places great emphasis on the enrichment, conservation, and recording of the local art culture by providing a physical and online platform for both established and young emerging artists to showcase and develop their talents.