Paintings and original poems created by local artist and English literature lover Carmen Lei Ka Man are currently on display at the Creative Macau Gallery in Nape for her second solo exhibition entitled “Abstract Narratives”, which focuses on storytelling.
In two sections, the exhibition features a total of 24 works made up of 10 paintings and 14 poems.
Lei, who is a part-time university lecturer and full-time middle school English teacher, told the Post during the exhibition’s opening ceremony last Thursday that the paintings took around a year to make and were created using acrylics and mixed media, noting that she likes heavy textures. The works’ titles come in the form of quotes derived from English literature such as “A Room of One’s Own” by Virginia Woolf, Ernest Hemingway’s “A Farewell to Arms”, and “A Tale of Two Cities” by Charles Dickens, with the artist, who loves to read and write, paying homage to the timeless classics.
Stories and English literature that she had read from her childhood up to the present are what inspired her to create her works, Lei said. Moreover, the artist said that she was also inspired by her life experiences including instances of pressure, stress and loneliness, being her creative outlet.
In her speech, Lei further remarked on the art of painting at the exhibition’s opening ceremony, noting that for her, painting “is a form of practice, a form of spiritual cultivation. Painting provides me with a space for self-dialogue, allowing me to practise and record what I have felt, experienced, and imagined using colours and canvas. Painting has also taught me how to connect with myself and face my own inner thoughts”.
Lei also told the Post that she hadn’t really thought of what she aims to achieve through her exhibition, as when she draws, “I just want to have the time to reflect on myself. And I want to heal myself”, she said. However, she pointed out: “If the drawings can heal me, then I hope that the drawings can heal the people around me because I think different people have different stories. They have different pressures. They face different obstacles and experiences and so on”.
“Abstract Narratives” is on until February 17. The gallery, which is located on the ground floor of the Macau Cultural Centre (CCM), is open from Monday to Saturday from 2 p.m. to 7 p.m. More details can be found on https://www.creativemacau.org.mo/
Local artist Carmen Lei poses in front of her paintings “Lock up your libraries if you like; but there is no gate, no lock, no bolt that you can set upon the freedom of my mind.” — A Room of One’s Own by Virginia Woolf and “If you’re in pitch blackness, all you can do is sit tight until your eyes get used to the dark.” ― Norwegian Wood by Haruki Murakami, after the opening ceremony last Thursday. – Photos: Rui Pastorin
Carmen Lei explains one of her works, “The world breaks everyone, and afterward, many are strong at the broken places.” – A Farewell to Arms by Ernest Hemingway, during last Thursday’s opening ceremony.
