“Time Away From Time,
I was born in Hong Kong and went to kindergarten at a small British elementary school. In first grade, my teacher Mrs. Whitaker admonished me to stop daydreaming. She told the class that my mouth was wide open while I was lost in thought and that a fly would fly in any minute. At that moment I snapped out of it and made sure to keep my mouth firmly closed. But I have never lost that tendency to drift off to a place that seems to me “time away from time.”
As an artist and filmmaker I’ve devoted my life to exploring that world. It’s a world of memories, dreams and imagination. My work has taken me inside the labs of brilliant neuroscientists who are discovering vital connections between our ability to imagine, remember and plan for our futures. It turns out that:
“Imagination is an essential launchpad for our hopes and dreams.”
Bessel Van Der Kolk, M.D, Psychiatrist
Today, the studio where I create my moving paintings are my portals to that state of mind. As described to me by neuroscientist Daniela Schiller,
“Memory is a form of time travel to the past. Imagination can be a form of travel not bound to any time”
Daniela Schiller, PHD, Director of the Schiller Lab at the Mount Sinai Icahn School of Medicine
I have come a long way from being that kid who was told not to daydream. In fact I cannot do my work without frequent and fluid access to that form of mental travel. This installation connects my exploration of the science of imagination expressed through art to Pinktada’s launch at the Esme Hotel, a property with a rich history as a former Artist Colony, a place where misfits and daydreamers came to create.