Arts | Exhibition focuses on human invasion of animal habitats

Grace Yeu

A new painting exhibition opened at Creative Macau this week, featuring the works of Macau-based artist Grace Yeu. The collection, known as “Fantasy,” depicts a world in which animals of different species can talk and understand each other, just as human beings are able to communicate with one another.
Speaking to the Times, Yeu explains that she is increasingly concerned that the natural environments of animals are being “encroached upon by the so-called ‘civilization’ of man.”
This is the primary theme that informs many of the pieces in her exhibition. The paintings show animals, often of differing species, in what appear to be urban settings.
The animals, which tend to be represented in one or a few shades, stand out against the urban backdrops that are often exceptionally diverse in color.
“I love colors and enjoy mixing and matching them, trying to explore and express my imagination through them, and using them to express and communicate my themes and ideas,” Yeu wrote in a catalogue detailing her works.
Observing her productions, one cannot help but be drawn immediately to the subjects of her paintings – whether they be an elephant in subtle shades of yellow and light green, or a dazzle of zebra silhouettes with their stripes accentuated in bright colors.
She says that her love for animals began early, but was heightened by a vacation in Africa where she was stunned by the beauty of the wild animals. A trip to Sri Lanka some years later mesmerized Yeu, as she watched with tranquil fascination as elephants played at an orphanage.
It is no surprise then, that the artist’s husband revealed that she despises zoos and enclosures – particularly birds in cages, which she thinks “should be free to fly.”
In drawing comparisons between human beings and animals, she finds that animal communication – even interspecies communication – lacks something that humans are seemingly reluctant to forsake in our dialogue. “Fear,” she says, “human beings hide behind a mask.”
But in her “Fantasy” exhibition, Yeu imagines that she can converse with the animals, particularly penguins, for which she has an affinity.
“Every time that I placed the penguins in my painting, I seemed to ask them ‘what are your views?’” she explained, adding that “their curiosity and cute movements just inspire and amuse me.”
A key part of the message behind the exhibition appears to use interspecies animal communication as a reflection on human beings as a species, highlighting our potential to better understand and respect animals. If animals are willing to make the effort, then so can we, Yeu appears to say.
Her exhibition will run in Creative Macau’s gallery until February 13. Admission is free. Satff reporter