Guest curated by Samantha Yap, Time Passes is conceived as a corridor of time that echoes the indeterminate passage of our days as we navigate through the pandemic that is still to pass, and the detritus it will leave behind. Its title references the middle chapter in Virginia Woolf’s novel To the Lighthouse that captures a movement in time and feeling.

The chapter details the decline of an old holiday house over a decade, from a space for contact and interaction into one of quiet and disarray. Yet even amidst the decaying landscape, acts of care and attention persist through the hands of the housekeepers and Woolf herself. At the end of the chapter, the remaining cast of characters gather again in this house that has been made and remade through compromise and care.

Conceptualised during this necessary time apart, this exhibition stages our return to one another and to shared public spaces. It recognises the lingering tenderness of our collective time apart and our time now, together but still apart. The works in the exhibition manifest acts of care-taking through the handling of different materials, and the commitment towards uncovering possibilities of living and relating even through difficulty and uncertainty.

(Banner image: Ashley Yeo, Drop of light (Pyramid), 2019; image courtesy of the Artist)

Time Passes is part of Proposals for Novel Ways of Being, a collective response by the visual arts community to the global pandemic and its impact on our community. Proposals for Novel Ways of Being will see multiple exhibitions and programmes by various partners taking place between August 2020 and February 2021. For more information, please visit novelwaysofbeing.sg