Kian Ming Tan

Kian Ming Tan

Malaysian, lives and works in London, UK

Looking at the sculpture we feel the presence of both, family and the narrative of a singular person. Bearing the soul of a storage, the installation compels us to trace the lineage and biography of this ancestor. Kian transfers an ancestral tombstone (or site-specific physical archive) into a sculptural installation. As Kian recalls, there is a deep ‘fragility in monumental spatiality,’ that is made evident during the rubbing procedure and foil sculpting. This act of reconstruction cooperates with the fragility of displacement by redefining belonging.

Kian’s migrant narrative inspires him to consider the larger experience of postcolonial conditions, immigration, and the Chinese diaspora. The Ancestor, with its striking silver luminosity and sweeping form intimately investigates diasporic displacement. It pays homage to Kian’s great grandfather who adopted his grandfather. Thus, the installation unearths a story of mobility and lineage- without borders.