Having visited the National Gallery in London years ago, I could barely contain my excitement to visit it again, let alone deliver a 10-minute presentation there. Prior to the competition final, all 10 of us competing were taken on a brief tour of the National Gallery, occasionally gathering around a painting to further analyse it for a few minutes.
As our tour guide delved into the history of an artwork and its underlying technique or materials, passers-by would often linger, momentarily joining our tour group as we all eagerly absorbed this information. Seeing the works of Jan van Eyck in person and learning more about them was a huge highlight of the tour for me.
Following the tour, the competition began. Oddly enough, I didn’t feel at all nervous… until we were told that 300 people would be attending (ignorance really is bliss). In the end, this ultimately didn’t matter, as I seemed to forget this when it came to my time to talk about Ai Weiwei’s installation Straight.
The installation was a very large one, being made of 150 tonnes of steel reinforcing bars from fallen buildings from the 2008 Sichuan earthquake. Personally, Straight is particularly important to me, as it was the first artwork I saw when I was younger. Ai Weiwei has become somewhat of a household name in my family since, with my mum particularly connecting to the message of his works as a Chinese immigrant herself. It was surreal to share my appreciation and respect for his work with an audience full of art historians and curators, and an opportunity I’m immensely grateful for.
ARTiculation has been an ongoing process for me since December, and throughout the heats and rounds I’ve gone through, at the end of it all, one thing resonates particularly with me: the importance of looking, thinking and then speaking can hardly be understated.
Lily, SFC1 (Year 12)
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