Of Conversations and Cardboard: My experience as an Artist Assistant at the National Gallery

Following the cancellation of Week 7 Programs due to the sudden tightening of Covid-19 restrictions, the Class of 2025 was left with an extra reading week. Feeling crestfallen that the flagship event of my freshman life has been strike out, I was searching for meaningful opportunities to spend this extra break week and stumbled upon a recruitment post for artist assistants.

Head/Home by Alfredo and Isabel Aquilizan is part of the Children's Biennale event at the National Gallery. Their artworks entail sprawling cardboard box installations or personal artefacts that act as a commentary of the transience of human endeavor and place-making. Speaking to the artists themselves, they informed us that migrant communities around the world as well as community groups from Singapore have contributed the cardboard used to create this larger-than-life installation. Why specifically cardboard? Well, cardboard is usually associated with the movement of migrant communities and the various representations of what home is. This inculcates the sense of belonging to a place. After the artists' brief introduction, the question that I ruminated was: What is home to me then?

After walking around the installation to pick up inspiration, we were led to a room in the Gallery's basement to start our work. After collecting template cardboard boxes with required stationary, we were left to our own devices. We could create anything that we wanted centered around the theme of 'Home'... and create we did. From skyscrapers, makeshift fountains, boats and even plants, we allowed our imagination to run wild and let nothing hold us back. Here are some of my creations:

I am especially proud of my Rafflesia!! Eventually, our cardboard sculptures were incorporated into the final artwork.

In retrospect, I realized that the concept of 'Home' is a rather intangible one. Home is what you make of it; and while I was letting my hands do all the creating, I was reminded of how Yale-NUS gradually became home: the community, the campus, the culture. I found solace here, and this is my sanctuary.