WHAT
This is the debut solo exhibition of Amal Lin, a Taiwanese artist. Known for her interest in Middle Eastern art, she was exposed to the Arabic language and artistic calligraphy when she studied at the University of Jordan. Her interest in Middle Eastern and specifically, Persian art arose when she studied further at the Prince’s Foundation School of Traditional Arts. In this exhibition, the syncretism of her education in the Middle East as well as her origins in Taiwan becomes clear: her paintings draw heavily from the Persian miniature tradition, depicting the artist’s inner spiritual reality with extreme detail.

The exhibition runs concurrently at the gallery with ‘Cotton in the Ears, Furball in the Throat’ by Nicole Wong.

WHY
The paintings in the exhibition are based on the artist’s own journey of recovering from her severe eating disorder. For Lin, therapy was in the form of meditation, which translated to creating Persian miniature paintings because they demanded absolute concentration. Most people can relate to this concept of catharsis, and might find inspiration in her unique form of meditation. Persian miniatures also result in an extremely intimate and personal viewing experience (in the past, their owners could traditionally store them easily and could also choose who got to view them). As such, the exhibition is really a personal invitation by the artist to see an intimate exhibition that reveals her inner world.