Pro Se (mapping series) was made as part of a new commission by artist Phi Phi Oanh for the exhibition Radiant Material: A Dialogue in Vietnamese Lacquer Painting, shown at the National Gallery Singapore from June-September 2017. The overall artwork Pro Se continued the artist’s investigation of the relationship between lacquer and visuality, this time through a meditation on contemporary experiences of image-making and viewing. In this part of the work, the artist used an innovative technique of lacquer painting on metal, using a small format to evoke the feeling of iPad-like tablets. This painting was one of a series of images intended to resemble a digital geographical search function like Google Maps, representing a zooming out from the exhibition space to the universe. While this capacity has become normalised through our personal digital devices, the representation in lacquer was designed to remind the viewer of the wonder of this experience of viewing and seeing.This painting shows an aerial map of the city of Singapore.
