"#ThingsLeftUnsaid" is a series of artworks created by Taiwanese artist - Kung-Ching Lee, known as George Lee. In this series, the artist explored the boundary between normality and abnormality by packaging situations that he considered weird while the majority of society think otherwise with visual presentation. "I put these questions and doubts of mine under the spotlight, literally. In a way, I force the audience to subconsciously think and talk. In my opinion, only when you talk about it, it becomes abnormal. When you ignore it, then it becomes normal. Nobody ever talks about things that are normal. Like ever."

 

"Things Left Unsaid" are not just about things that the society doesn't talk about but also the things that the artist has been keeping in his mind. "I used to be afraid of speaking up my mind because of the pressure and judgment from the society. If the majority of society act one way in a certain situation, you become a weirdo or troublemaker when you do it differently or question about it. That's bullying, in a way. Now that I am "smuggling" these questions in my artworks. I feel more freely and willingly to address them to the public because people seem to have higher tolerance and openmindness when it comes to art."

 

"#", this new language created by the development of technology plays a crucial part in this series. Hashtag was created to categorizing objects on the internet so it's easier to find similar articles. Nowadays, Hashtag also serves as a way for people to summarize a situation in real life. "One time, someone said #EpicFail to people who failed to jump over a river and ended up soaking wet. I found this usage of "#" very interesting. It not only describes a situation in a few words but also lighten up something serious, in a sarcastic way. First of all, I have always been a fan of sarcasm. Secondly, if I am going to sugar-coating something abnormal to modern society, hashtag seems to be the best ingredient to do so."

 

Most of the artworks appear to be normal daily situations such as Friends chatting, couple reading together on a couch or kid playing on the ground. What will strike you later is the things that they are talking about, abnormal things. "I want to create a contrast between what it appears to be and what it's really about. Not only it's more interesting but also an emblem of how we keep our thought. We act it's all normal while a lot of thoughts popping up in our minds that want to get out so desperately. Now that the characters in the images talked about it, it no longer remains normal." 

 

To make sure the images match what society considers normal, George browsed through online stock photos for reference, creating new hashtags out of hashtags. "I would call it an act of "artistic revenge". These stock photos were staged to meet the expectation of normal situations. I then use these photos as reference to create something abnormal. Here is a photo of a typical housewife and here is a photo of baby playing. And woala, together they represent our programmed mind that on a certain day we have to behave a certain way which we should have done every single day."

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During the interview, I asked George if it is necessary to invest this much time on painting one image for a single issue. "I felt that I have to. The thing is, you add value and importance to an artwork when you spend time building details. People will see the effort you made and therefore understand how much it means to you. At least as an artist, I  can't even believe the message I embed in my artwork if I won't spend time in it."

 

I hope the things George wanted to discuss have been heard and talk about. At least, they are not left unsaid anymore.

 

"#ThingsLeftUnsaid" is currently exhibited in Frank Mohr Institue, Groningen.

 

Interview/Editing: Karma. G