Avgang Tromsø 2021: Jillian Toshie Suyono
I intervjuserien Avgang Tromsø 2021 har Hakapik snakket med alle nyutdannede kunstnere fra Kunstakademiet i Tromsø. Her forteller Jillian Toshie Suyono om sitt mastergradsprosjekt The sink is leaving (2021).
Jillian Toshie Suyono's video installation The Sink is Leaving (2021) is largely inspired by the current corona situation and being stuck at home all the time, staring at the furniture.
Can you tell a little bit about why and how you have made this piece?
– Ever since the BA, I have been working with video. It’s mostly because I’ve been travelling so much, so working with video and using only a laptop as a tool, has been a way for me to continue my practice. The piece is related to my thesis, where I was talking about an absurd space. Not absurd like in ridiculous, but more like a reality where we don’t know what we are in and we don’t know what’s going to happen. After staring at the things around us for a while, they seem to just break down into arbitrary shapes. They loose their connection to the concepts we have for them. It's not depressing, neither positive, rather a mentality, and a space we should embrace.
What is the title of your work?
– “The Sink Is Leaving”. I like to think of weird, funny one-liners. This one came from a thought, both from being stuck at home all the time, staring at the furniture – one day I started thinking: what if the kitchen sink started moving? And just left the house. It has this absurd reality to me and it creates this negation of reality that we have to accept or reject.
Are there any artists you are inspired by?
– I’m inspired by the author Thomas Ligotti. His work has an open ending, and that’s how I like to see my work as well. I don’t want to have answers, and I don’t like explaining what the art is – it feels like it closes it. I want my work to have a bit of humor, and a bit of something you can understand. Ligotti writes a bit like that.
How has studying in Tromsø affected your practice?
– It’s hard to say right now, if what affects me is Tromsø – or corona. I work with video and audio, and when I first got here, I was super inspired by the surroundings. Going out, doing field recordings – and challenging myself, as I come from a city, I have lived in Singapore and Tokyo, and Tromsø is so different. Here – it’s nature everywhere. At the same time, I might have romanticized Tromsø a bit before I got here, with northern lights and mountains. The reality is harsher than it seems, you think hiking is easy, but then I start walking, it is exhausting! Even the stairs up the mountain. I still enjoy it – the space and the view to the mountains… it helps to clear my head. The academy is also very free, and this has made me more independent than I thought I was. Being here has affected my processes, rather than the concepts in my work.
What are your further plans?
– Before I had a plan to go on a graduation trip, to travel. Now with corona, you in stead kind of have to choose a place to be. I’m thinking about staying behind for a bit, because the system for artists seems very good in Tromsø, compared to other places. I am considering applying for a studio at Kysten.
