Mook’s debute solo collection of artworks, entitled WOMB: When Everything Changed Before Everything Changed, was inspired by her experiences, thoughts, emotions and imagery during the period when she was pregnant with triplet boys. Using appliqué and kilim weaving techniques over a span of one full year to produce, the 20 pieces of WOMB express the fun and sadness, joy and pain, laughter and tears experienced over her 34-week pregnancy.
Troika Cradle
applique size 65×170 cm. / applique + jim thompson backing fabric 80×185 cm. hammock 360L x 115H x 150base cm.
The observer is invited to nestle into the hammock of this art object, to commune with the unborn trio, where the gentle swaying rhythm harkens to a timeless infant- soothing ritual as old as mankind itself. Look to the spine as a reference point.
This art object was created as a preview piece of WOMB by MOOKV for the design exhibition MANDARIN TURQUOISE by Jim Thompson, incorporating silk fabric from their textile collection.
Dream of the Unborn – Troy
applique size 200×300 cm.
Normal 4D ultrasounds are monochromatic, but Mook has added the tones and hues she felt at the time. “Almost like thermal imaging, except colouring by emotions instead of heat.” On this visit to the doctor at 25 weeks, We were unable to capture a clear image of Trey, who was always turned away from the camera!
Dream of the Unborn – Trip (Right)
applique size 200 x 300 cm.
The phenomenon of seeing faces in things is called pareidolia, and these two pieces capture that first visual quest for the still-unmet child. Eventually, the seemingly random patterns fall into place, and perceptible recognition chrystallizes for the observer.
Biome (Top Left)
applique size 150 x 50 cm.
The intersection of an ultrasound image and a shared dream, from a time when mother and children are still one.
Dialogue (Bottom Left)
applique size 150 x 50 cm.
“Our boys have never known loneliness. They have always had each other.” Were they always aware of each other? Are we able to fathom the depths of their unspoken bond?
Thumper (Right)
applique size 100 x 100 cm.
“Back when it was just the two of us living in our cozy two bedroom flat, my husband and I would play a game where we would find shapes of animals and people in the pink marble of our shower. It was one of the small moments that made me feel like we were meant for each other. This piece is a kind of homage to that happy time, where the viewer may discover whatever they imagine in this colourised ultrasound.”
Trlumvlrl
applique size 100 x 100 cm.
In rare instances, we would see all three of the fetuses at the same time, like planets or electrons in orbit perfectly aligned for fleeting moment here, frozen in time and textile.
Echo Rainbow
applique size 120 x 150 cm.
As a designer, Mook’s choice of colours and their juxtapositions are not influenced by traditional colour theory, which she largely ignores in determining what shade complements which hue. For her, colours are complementary enough if they can be found co-existing in nature or dreams.
Masquerade (Right)
applique size 100 x 100 cm.
Mook would see patterns similar to Chinese masks in the images, though the colors she assigns are not necessarily affixed to the traditional meaning (e.g. Red for courageous and prosperous, green for violent, blue for neutrality).
(Left)
Since they were infants all the way to kindergarten, there will be someone who says something like, “How can you tell them apart? They all look the same.”
Though these four pieces were inspired by the same source ultrasound image, they have developed differently over time and technique, branching out with different personalities and preferences, turning to different directions.
Just an each of the boys’ names is derived from the number three( Trip from”Triple” in English, Trey from “Tres” in Latin, and Troy from “Troika” or “a group of three” in Russian.)
The titles of all four pieces in this quartet also share the same meaning.
- Synecdoche kilim size 100 x 100 cm.
- A Part for the Whole kilim size 100 x 100 cm.
- The Whole For One Part kilim size 100 x 100 cm.
- Simultaneous Understanding kilim size 100 x 100 cm.
Luna (Right)
applique size 100 x 200 cm.
The root of Mook’s art can be found in applique technique, where she creates abstract interpretations of ordinary sketches, and adds dimension through cushioning effects. Emergent forms are largely unintentional or subconscious, and often as much as of a surprise discovery for the artist as the viewer.
Amalgam (Top Left)
kilim (with sound) size 100 x 100 cm.
Cacophony or symphony?
It may depend on your frame of reference, as the exhausted parent at wit’s end struggles to distinguish three competing voices striving to be heard, yet they do realize the beauty and miracle of theses three individuals who emerged at 34 weeks less than 4 kilograms in total, the mean weight of one normal newborn.
Troy (Bottom Left)
kilim (with sound) size 90 x 90 cm.
The modern-day shaman of fertility wields a divining wand (in the 1st to 2nd trimester) or a ouija-like paddle (in the 2nd to 3rd trimester) to detect the pulsar signals from the Womb. This manifestation of Troy’s fetal cardiogram thus has the air of a cherished tribal blanket.
Trey (Top Middle)
kilim (with sound) size 160 x 50 cm.
The waveform here is a visual representation of a sound, in this case, the heartbeat of the unborn child. “I would see my husband at his computer late at night editing these patterns into pre-recorded spots and jingles for the radio. Here he has edited this heartbeat into a continuous loop, while I interpreted the waveform through my design techniques, it became a collaborative effort, which is really like essence of parenting.”
Trip (Bottom Middle)
kilim (with sound) size 160 x 50 cm.
A major early milestone of pregnancy is the pitter of a tiny heart, rapidly pumping away and detectable around the second month. It’s not the deep thump-thump throbbing that we are used to. The baby’s heartbeat is rapid, like the shuttle of a weaving machine.
Vertebrae (Right)
mixed media size 100 x 100 cm.
The theory of evolution posits that man evolved from fish, and perhaps we see signs of this genetic heritage in utero, as in this depiction of sound and shape taken from an ultrasound examination at 16 weeks.