Week 5 ｜Where I’m From: Turning Lived Experience into Curatorial Material

1) My individual project: a simple, workable idea

This week I clarified a more grounded direction for my individual curatorial project. After seeing CAP classmates bring and present their works in class, I realised something very direct: most of the works were not built from “art jargon,” but from personal background, cultural memory, and lived experience. That made the project goal clearer for me. I want to curate an exhibition that helps audiences understand artworks through simple, human entry points: where the maker comes from, what they carry with them, and how that becomes form, material, and gesture.

Instead of assuming viewers will read long texts, the exhibition would be structured around three everyday prompts: Body(what is carried physically or emotionally), Home Objects (what comes from daily life), and Translation (how experiences change when moving across places and languages). The aim is not to “explain identity,” but to make the link between life and making visible in a way that is easy to access.

A person holds a printed photograph showing a metal sculpture installation in a studio space, with several small sculptural forms arranged on the floor and a tall stand at the left.

CAP classmate (name withheld), documentation image of a metal sculpture installation shared during an in-class session, ECA Main Building, Thursday, 12 February 2026. Photograph by the author.

A torso-shaped sculpture sits on a table in a classroom setting, covered with layered textures and embedded circular forms, with wood-paneled doors and seated students in the background.

CAP classmate (name withheld), torso-shaped sculpture brought for an in-class sharing session, ECA Main Building, Thursday, 12 February 2026. Photograph by the author.

A printed presentation board on a desk displays multiple artwork images, sketches, and short texts arranged in a grid layout, photographed in a classroom environment.

CAP classmate (name withheld), printed presentation board combining artwork images, sketches, and short texts, shared during an in-class session, ECA Main Building, Thursday, 12 February 2026. Photograph by the author.

2) Collective and course learning: keeping it not-for-profit and realistic

Tutor guidance this week reinforced that our projects sit within not-for-profit curating and UK arts contexts, not commercial models. The Summerhall field trip and Sam Chapman’s talk also made the practical side feel real: production decisions, equipment, installation time, staffing, and audience movement shape what a project becomes. This encourages me to keep the project modest and achievable, and to consider 3D media as one realistic option (screening fees, lighter transport needs), while still staying conceptually focused. I will use Metasteps to create a virtual space to display the art works I want to display, I am still considering the selection of artists.

3) Developing the project within Jì Jū (寄居)

In our Jì Jū collective chats, I’ve started to be more careful with the idea of “cultural background.” It shouldn’t just be a label we stick on someone, and it also shouldn’t turn into something audiences “consume” because it feels exotic. Our manifesto keeps bringing me back to a few practical points: be aware of where we’re speaking from, try to represent people fairly, be clear about money and funding, and respect artists’ labour. So if I curate a project about personal experience and cultural background, I need to think more carefully about who gets to speak, who gets seen, who might be misunderstood, and how the work and effort behind each piece is properly acknowledged.

Notes:

All photographs were taken by the author. The artworks shown were brought and presented by MA Contemporary Art Practice (CAP) classmates during an in-class sharing session, and are used here as documentary material for curatorial reflection.