Tiffany Singh - Union

Tiffany Singh will transform the MIC Toi Rerehiko Gallery into a neutral space for exchange, dialogue and debate in her exhibition Union opening on Friday 12 March.

Singh has worked extensively in the volunteer sector in Aotearoa and in India and Nepal.

She has studied Theravada and Mahayana Buddhism in monasteries in Nepal and the Essence of Religious Philosophy at The School Of Spiritual Intelligence in the Northern Himalayan region of India.

The notion of social responsibility is instrumental in Singh’s practice as she seeks to eliminate monetary value and privilege social value. By negating economic worth her work challenges our modern value system.

What Colour is the Sacred? encourages the audience to participate in an exchange which ultimately sculpts, physically and conceptually, the form of the work. By
trading a considered object, service, or piece of knowledge each viewer is invited to remove one of the artist’s sculptures from the Gallery and in this way contribute to the evolution of the piece.

“From working in the Volunteer sector for two years in the East I became conversant with using art as a means to generate and affect change. The effectiveness of using art as a tool became evident in relation to empowerment, by providing a sense of value and worth to underprivileged
communities through the medium of participation.”

In Union Singh brings to question the Social conscience and right of sacred practice, themes of embracing what is important to us as individuals, and what it means to be a community.

Union looks at the way art can function both as an elitist status symbol and a poignant vehicle for social change.

“The power of the work lies in the ability to be able to spur public conversation, raise awareness, activate participation and stir the spirit. This opening out of the art-making process creates a space for openly and generously giving to each other, listening to each other,
encouraging other perspectives, as the more we see, hear and learn from each other, the greater the artwork will continue to resound.”

Tiffany Singh has a BFA with Honours from the Elam School of Fine Arts and hopes to complete her Masters in 2011.

Union
MIC Toi Rerehiko
12 March to 1 May