This is a text based artwork done on a round canvas which is 50cm in diameter. The embossed and textured texts are achieved by piping the letters individually onto the canvas. After the letters are dried, the canvas is spray painted with black and gold paints.

For contrast I played with the arrangement of the texts within the artwork. The curved sentences around the canvas conveys a feeling of movement whereas the horizontal text in the middle is rigid and has a sense of solidity to it. Besides the text, there is also depth shown by varying thickness of the letters. This work is bilingual, it has texts from Tamil and English. I called it the Foundation Statement because i feel that even though we are more accepting of the queer community, there are still many cultures around the world that does not approve of it and it is illegal. And it always comes back to human foundations, where a relationship has to be always between man and woman.

This artwork is almost confessional because themes revolving around same-sex topics are considered taboo. It is based on my personal experience as a Singaporean Indian where we still do resonate strongly with our cultural background.

The curved letters in this artwork is a representation of the never ending questions that I’ve always been asked, always being in a loop. These questions such as “what would the others say? Or that I am going against human nature” always go unanswered because I would never have the opportunity to voice out hence they are not really visible to viewers until they come close to it. Piping the individual letters using textured paste was important to this work because i felt that the varying depth creates a sense of individuality and that represents each conversation i have had with different individuals over the years. The emphasis is given to the middle because it reflects the popular statement that is said to a queer individual when it comes to the topic of same-sex relationships. Which is, you just haven’t found the right Aan which is men in Tamil. The decision to write out men in Tamil because this work is a personal response to my experience within the Indian community. However, this work can also be understood even if you don’t understand Tamil. The English texts acts has an aid to decode the Tamil word. The damaged areas on the Tamil word represents the people in my life who have accepted me for who I am even though they have strong cultural belief, it is a sign of hope for traditional values breaking away.