Caring Through Art: ART TALK with Alecia Neo, Singaporean Artist & Winner of the Young Artist Award

This is a talk that I had with Alecia Neo live on Monday, 24 January 2022. It's the second in a long row of art talks that I'll publish regularly on The Pointless Artist Blog under Podcast > Art Talks, as well as on THE POINTLESS ARTIST PODCAST on Anchor.fm and Spotify. Stay tuned.

Alecia Neo with Kytes "Between Earth and Sky". Photography by Chee Boon Pin.

Alecia is a socially engaged artist based in Singapore. In 2016 she won the Young Artist Award, Singapore's highest award for young arts practitioners.

We spoke about her motivation as an artist, her main source of inspiration, her social engagement, and the impact of her work in Southeast Asia.

"I make work to understand myself, to understand different situations as happening around us, and also as a way to connect with others who are seeminly different from me." (Alecia Neo)

We also spoke in depth about her approach to transformation, which is central both to her work and The Pointless Artist Blog, as well as about the transformative power of care and disability-led art, an emerging arts field in Singapore. Last but not least, we spoke about her understanding of artistic creativity, art inspiration and artist block, and her current projects (watch the video below).

"I'm trying to create experiences also for my audiences to understand how they position themselves in the world and, through that sort of encounter and experience, I hope that it will also shift a position within them or their thinking about a certain topic because that it's how it's been for me in the art making process." (Alecia Neo)

We ended the talk with a short discussion about Alecia's new open call for artists, to which I strongly encourage you to respond. I kindly asked Alecia to share hands-on information on how you can respond to her ongoing call.

You can listen to my talk with Alecia Neo here. You can also listen to it directly on Anchor.fm and Spotify > The Pointless Artist's ART TALKS.

I found a lot of synergies between Alecia and me as visual artists and practitioners of the spiritual values we believe in. We're both concerned with the topics of inner transformation, consciousness, interpersonal exchange and interconnection, listening, care, togetherness, and ultimately oneness. We both belive in the power of small and the depth of human relationships. And we're both convinced that

"Every small, incremental step that we can take really makes a difference." (Alecia Neo)

Alecia with caregiver Carol Ee preparing her script for her performance in "Between Earth and Sky".

Alecia touched me profoundly. I found her words so inspiring and so greatly empowering. Let's follow her example and respond to her initiative!

Let's leave behind the narrow focus on the Corona virus and the floating anxiety about it! Let's cultivate and grow our most intimate and authentic human values of trust, courage, and mutual care!

Let's listen to each other and rebuild our social bonds to overcome the current psychosis and the degradation of love and faith in Life, which downstream lead to the fear we gave in at the outbreak of the pandemic.

"All the projects we do as artists are an invitation to listen and practice together." (Alecia Neo)

Through her selfless engagement as an artist in Southeast Asia, Alecia has lit a candle of hope and faith in our humanity for me.

I hope that her message of mutual care and compassion, of togetherness beyond differences, and of belonging and shared human values beyond otherness will touch your heart too, and will inspire you to bring a valuable contribution to the troubled world we live in. Because this world needs the power of arts and the voice of courageous artists like you!

We can change this world if we believe in the power of small and we speak out.

Via The Pointless Artist Blog, I support the creative energy of life and the artists who contribute to transforming this world into a freer, kinder, more inclusive, caring, transparent, and compassionate place to live. I firmly believe in the passion for art, the importance of sharing knowledge and experiences, and the power of personal stories to bring us together.

I hope that my interview with Alecia will open a channel for you and transform you even if just for a moment ...

"Transformation is fundamental to how we live and it's a wonderful thing to embrace." (Alecia Neo)

Artists Alecia Neo and Ajunta Anwari, and Caregivers during a Movement Workshop Session for "Between Earth and Sky". Courtesy of the artist.

My art talk with Alecia is a natural continuation of my conversation with the American painter William Eckhardt Kohler from 12 January 2022, in the context of which we talked about the concept of inner transformation (personal, emotional, and spiritual).

If you’ve got something to add, please comment on this blog post below, drop me an e-mail, or pm me on Instagram @the_pointless_artist. I'd love to hear from you!

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Recognise your pointlessness and keep creating!

From Germany with love,

Bianca Vinther

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