[Jan-Jan Van Essche]

project#8 REMEBRANCE

REMEMBRANCE

2020

Plaster, Cotton, Chinese Ink

Antwerp, Belgium

Walls age quietly.

They accumulate marks, abrasions, fractures, stains, and repairs. Time settles upon their surfaces with such gradual persistence that deterioration often escapes notice until it has already occurred.

Remembrance began with a damaged wall.

Located within the studio of Jan Jan Van Essche, the surface had endured years of use, adaptation, and neglect. Layers of previous interventions lingered across its body. What remained was neither ruin nor restoration, but something suspended between the two.

At the time, Jan Jan Van Essche was preparing his Autumn Winter collection titled Remembrance.

The title itself became the point of departure.

Rather than concealing the wall, Tae became interested in healing it.

Not restoring it to its original condition.

Not erasing its wounds.

But allowing those wounds to become part of a new form.

The process drew upon the simple logic of mending.

When a bone breaks, plaster and cotton are applied to stabilise the fracture whilst recovery takes place beneath the surface. Tae adopted a similar methodology. Cotton was saturated in plaster and applied by hand directly onto the wall. Layers accumulated gradually, creating a skin whose textures retained every gesture of their construction.

Finger marks remained visible.

Folds remained visible.

Drips remained visible.

The surface refused perfection.

It embraced evidence.

Once dried, the intervention was covered with traditional Chinese ink. Unlike contemporary paint, the ink absorbs light without surrendering itself entirely to darkness. Its blackness remains alive, capable of revealing subtle variations through changing conditions of illumination.

The resulting surface became less a backdrop than an independent work.

A wall transformed into memory.

A wound transformed into form.

A repair transformed into presence.

Within the context of the collection, the intervention established a dialogue between textile and architecture, body and surface. Both carried traces of labour. Both carried traces of time. Both acquired their identity through accumulation rather than completion.

Remembrance therefore does not concern itself with restoration.

Nothing returns to its original state.

Instead, the work proposes that memory resides precisely within those imperfections that restoration often seeks to erase.

The crack.

The scar.

The repair.

The trace.

These remain the places where time becomes visible.

In situ installation for Jan-Jan Van Essche’s AW20 collection. With the present title of “REMEMBRANCE” and the qualities that of Jan-Jan’s and my works merged together to inspire me to create this work. The pre-existing wall was already damaged and faded with time, so by applying plaster and cotton with random hand gestures I seemingly restored not to it’s original state but a standing work of its own. Solid and yet soft touch of the hand applied plaster juxtaposed with cotton created these inconsistent textures within the wall. Then after drying Chinese black ink was painted over to give an embracing natural colour to the collection pieces.

Copyright © TAEHYUNLEE, All Rights Reserved.