Belinda Hy Chan

My work is about a longing and yearning desire for something that we cannot seem to reach; it is unknown, but buried somewhere too close, deep within ourselves. We sometimes get hints and moments of a millisecond flashback from this realm, but then they vanish swiftly, and all that is left is a feeling and what becomes a glimpse of an abstract memory. Almost like the moment you wake up from a vivid dream, when all that is left are emotions and uncertain narratives. They linger and become a part of you; drifting and wandering within these voids, and drawing you closer and deeper into their absence. And there, they are real; they are the realities that live within ourselves.

My paintings explore the uncanniness of these unknown realms that exist in the human subconsciousness. They often resemble some sort of maze or prison, complex but interconnected, and are influenced by a profound sense of longing and loss, but also a strange sense of hope and comfort. The other-worldly landscapes are infused with dream-like, surreal sensibility, abstract in existence, and they blur the lines between abstraction, figuration, and narration. I want to explore the notion of unknowing and the process of liberation through the act of becoming and t...

MFA Fine Art, The University of Arts London