Creative Chemistry - Art Through Art

At the end of May, I had the opportunity to meet many wonderful individuals while photographing TEDxWanChai 2015. One such individual was Sara Barati, a fellow creative working as a resident artist at Yew Chung International School. 

Barati’s works at Yew Chung include mixed media, paper cutting designs, scratchboard printsand paintings and was featured at Yew Chung’s Art Reception on June 5th, 2015. Barati’s work incorporates a few different themes that I noticed: - Chinese Cultural Art - Closeups of designs and graphical shapes and forms - Surrealism and illustration - The mixing of traditional Asian art forms such as paper cutting and traditional asian designs with modern western art forms such as the use of digital and mixed media. The papercutting is a particular common theme which is often added as an extra layering into her work sometimes, subtly or painted into it.  

Some of her sources of creative inspiration often came from reading and visualising interesting text. One of her works is a visualisation of a verse in a song by The Wildings called Counted. The lyrics “make me like a tree rooted in water” from the song, stood out and became a powerful visual in her mind. This inspired her painting and the result is a surrealist image pictured in closeup with particular emphasis on the merging of legs into the ground as if it was a tree. 

Another source of inspiration is the Chinese environment. Finding herself working in China and a new cultural environment, Sara kept seeing some recurring common symbols, such as Koi fish, flowing water and Chinese dragons. This made her curious about their use and meaning. It lead her to research the history and background of these objects which are included in her artwork.

Her painting “My Cup Runs Over” is about abundance. Barati wanted to explore the connection between the traditional form of Chinese paper-cut art and Western painting and the contrasting materials. It was also important to research the meanings behind Chinese symbols found in paper-cuts. This piece is centred around the fish, whose word in Mandarin sounds the same as the word for abundance. A similar concept that Barati is familiar with is found in the Biblical phrase “my cup runs over,” which means having more than enough. Researching the Chinese symbols is just as much fun as the artistic process. 

For myself – I can group my inspirational moments into three categories.

• Experiencing things first hand for myself. This world is full of amazing things. As children these are fascinating but as adults, we become often become accustomed to the fascinating world around us. Seeing new places or trying new or different experiences help us see things from a fresh point of view, as if seeing it for the first time like a child.
  

One of my mentors shared an amazing quote regarding originality that still guides me today. This quote continues to fuel my quest for creativity and new experiences in life.

“Everything’s been done before – Just I haven’t done it”.

Likewise through my work as a photographer … even if I believe everything’s been captured before … not only have I not captured it yet… but not everyone has seen it before either. It is through these shared experiences of art that allow for creative types to interact ( and less-creative types ;p) in dynamic ways. A fun creative chemical reaction of sorts that creates art through art.

So to all the creative dreamers and all those who are reading this – I leave you with this newer quote to fuel your fire.

“It hasn’t all been done before, because it hasn’t been done, by you”