I Carry You in my Heart
Personally Speaking, 2018
Objectifs Chapel Gallery, Singapore
Personally Speaking was a year long visual arts project that explored the stories of caregiving for people with special needs, mental illness, and the elderly. Eight Singapore artists had been inspired by the personal joys and challenges of caregivers, shared with them by people of all walks of life, including parents, children, teachers, social workers and healthcare professionals.
Mary Bernadette Lee worked with 11 pairs of caregivers and their loved ones with intellectual disabilities from Rainbow Centre, Movement for the Intellectually Disabled of Singapore (MINDS) and Y-STARS (YMCA Y Art Programme). Over three months, she conducted a series of workshops where they learnt to create clay vessels that represented the relationship they share.
In response to her interactions with her participants, she used clay leftover from the workshops to create sculptural representations of her understanding of relationships in caregiving. Bulbous and stacked, the sculptures embody support and balance, the foundation of a strong relationship.
The group exhibition roved to three locations - Punggol Oasis, Jurong Regional Library and Objectifs Chapel Gallery.
I Carry You in my Heart
Working with clay teaches one to be patient, sensitive, gentle, firm and open-minded. Caring requires the same approach; it is important to understand each other in order to care effectively as everyone gives and receives love differently.
The process of making the vessels had many transitory and repetitive steps, which paralleled the highs and lows of caregiving; the joy and the pain, the frustration and determination, the pride and disappointment, the growth and the fear, and the giving and taking.
