Duo Solo Exhibition 

Domestic Landscape by Katie Ho

Death is the calling of a seashell witch by Isabella Isabella

 

9 October - 14 November 2021

Opening: Saturday 16 October, 4-8pm

Hours: Friday to Sunday, 1-6pm

 

Live performances 24/10, 31/10, 7/11

Registration required 

https://tinyurl.com/seashellwitch

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Hidden Space is delighted to present “Domestic Landscape” and “Death is the calling of a seashell witch”, a duo solo exhibition by Katie Ho and Isabella Isabella. Katie’s drawings began in the tensions of intimate home confinement. Whilst in progress, this series sparked an ongoing connection and dialogue with Isabella Isabella, whose performances are evolving responses to Katie’s installation, and will happen across three days during the exhibition. 

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Domestic Landscape

A drawing installation

 

In the autumn of 2017, my girl was born and I became a full-time mother.

 

In the four years since then, I have been largely confined in my home, tackling endless tedious things, day and night. Despite relentless tiredness and anxiety, I try to find beauty among the details of everyday household objects, to evoke lines and colors, to transform my surroundings into a boundless landscape.

 

In the margin of madness, I try to give out love.

 

Katie Ho

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Death is the calling of a seashell witch

Live performance 

 

Death is the calling of a seashell witch is composed of interconnected acts portraying domestic relationships in a turbulent time. I collected narratives between lovers to create fictional and non-fictional scenes for this series of performances. The dialogues among the acts escalate to tension in sound and interactions to distort time, space and reflect on the connectivity between all romantic relationships.

 

Death usually happens very far away.

We think.

 

Isabella Isabella

 

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Katie Ho (HK) believes that imagination is to be found between the subjective world and observations of the real. Small everyday details are both inspiration and starting points for exploration. Her artworks narrate fragments of stories that can be seen as individually complete, but when assembled together construct a more complex, multifaceted experience. They allow for connections across images and forms to show an idiosyncratic view of subjective and real world observations; a view of narrated stories which are imaginative, humorous and most importantly, compassionate and deeply human.

 

Katie has an MFA from RMIT University, Australia, and has exhibited in Australia, Hong Kong, Korea and Taiwan. She has been selected for residencies in Korea (2015) and Taiwan (2016), and was a finalist in the 2016 Austronesian International Arts Award, Taiwan. She is also a stage designer and graphic designer. 

 

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Isabella Isabella (HK/US) was born in Hong Kong and grew up between Hong Kong and Chicago. She is named after her father's first love in kindergarten and shared her name with her half-sister when they were growing up. Blurring the boundaries between dramatization, fantasy, intimacy, and violence, Isabella Isabella uses the human body as a vessel of romantic experiences and fragmented narratives to foster transformative encounters among strangers. Frequently generating participants' uneasiness and vulnerability, she processes power structures in intimate relationships through live interactions in her work. In a carefully calibrated environment, Isabella Isabella, her performers and participants become mutually engaged, actively processing the experience, their live responses allowing new portraits of connectivity to emerge.

 

Isabella Isabella has a BFA from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago (SAIC), US, and an MFA from RMIT University, Australia. She has performed in Australia, Hong Kong, Singapore and the US.