In Awe of Things (2018)

A worn cooking pot, an old tool or a small object kept from someone we love may have little material value, yet become difficult to replace. Beyond their practical functions, such objects carry memories, attachments and meanings that cannot always be explained through their physical properties. What is it that we recognise in these ordinary things, and why do we sometimes turn to them for comfort?

Growing up in Malaysia, Seah encountered Buddhist, Catholic and local folk traditions, each offering different ways of understanding the spiritual world. As he grew older, rational thinking led him to question these beliefs. Yet the desire to seek reassurance through prayer, charms or familiar rituals remained. This contradiction became the starting point for In Awe of Things, an exploration of how spiritual meaning might persist within an increasingly rationalised and seemingly disenchanted world.

Seah became particularly interested in damaged religious sculptures and faded murals, where the original figures had partially disappeared but their outlines, gestures and surrounding spaces remained. These absences suggested that an image need not be complete to evoke a presence. Drawing upon religious iconography, everyday objects and geometric forms extracted from familiar environments, he developed ambiguous compositions that move between recognisable images and abstraction.

The works extend his ongoing investigation into objects as containers. A religious icon may serve as a vessel for devotion, just as a piece of furniture, a garment or a personal belonging may hold memories and emotional attachments. Rather than depicting spirits themselves, Seah explores the forms and spaces through which people imagine, accommodate and give meaning to an invisible presence.

Copper became central to this investigation. Historically associated with religious sculpture, ritual objects and artistic production, the metal also responds visibly to its surroundings. Seah polished, chemically etched and oxidised copper sheets, allowing moisture, touch and chemical reactions to produce irregular marks and changing colours. Through further painting, carving and the reconstruction of fragmented images, the surfaces accumulated traces of both deliberate intervention and material transformation.

Many of the works adopt narrow, upright proportions, recalling the dimensions of a coffin — perhaps the final container for the human body. Their incomplete figures and residual forms suggest the belongings, memories and imagined presences that may outlast physical existence. Like skin, the copper records encounters and alterations, while its oxidised surface makes the passage of time visible.

In Awe of Things does not attempt to establish the existence of spirits or propose a return to religious belief. Instead, it considers the human need to find reassurance and meaning through the material world. If objects can carry memories, beliefs and attachments beyond their practical functions, might the act of making and looking at art offer another way of attending to what remains unseen?

Keywords: #MaterialCulture #Spirituality #ObjectAndMemory #Disenchantment #MaterialTransformation #NegativeSpace #MakingAndUnmaking