Isolation opens up creative windows for artists

Award-winning artist Lam Un Mei

Sheltering at home has not stifled Lam Un Mei’s creativity; on the contrary, the Covid-19 pandemic has unlocked new inspiration for artworks, the local award-winning artist told the Times at the opening ceremony of her exhibition.
During the pandemic, Lam, a homegrown female artist famous for her engaging prints, which exude a great sense of whimsy and surrealism, created an art series, named “Small Home in Big City”, which was inspired by Covid-19-related confinement.
“The pandemic has helped me re-ponder the relationships between me and those tiny things which have sat at our home for so long but had always been neglected by us,” Lam said, when asked about the intention of creating the new series.
The outbreak has opened up new rooms for artistic inspiration, but Lam acknowledged that it has also dealt a blow to the city’s art industry. Another five exhibitions of hers, which were originally scheduled to launch in 2020, were all canceled due to Covid-19.
During a long stretch of the stay-at-home period, she resorted to art to communicate the new thoughts and inspirations that Covid-19 brought to her.
“Art can be inspired by all the things you encounter in life, and the pandemic has put us into a situation where we can see things from a new lens,” she said.
Lam, born and raised in Macau, has a knack for printmaking. One of her signature creations — “The Fourth of the Wall” series — was crowned with the Grand Prize of the Jury Award, the Young Artist Award, and the Excellent Artwork Award in the Collective Exhibition of Macao Visual Arts 2018.
A total of 15 prints, including the new pandemic-inspired pieces and previous award-winning works created over the past two years, were exhibited in the art exhibition, themed  “Exhibition of Works by Lam Un Mei and Ye Jiehao – Grand Prize Winners Artists of Jury Award in Collective Exhibition of Macao Artist.”
The exhibition, organized by the Cultural Affairs Bureau, aims to “encourage local artists to continuously explore and advance along the journey of artistic creation,” President of the Cultural Affairs Bureau Mok Ian Ian said in the opening ceremony.
The exhibition also features artworks of another local artist, Ye Jiehao, a veteran seal-carving artist who also specializes in Chinese calligraphy and painting.  Staff Reporter