Gayle Chong Kwan discusses her exhibition, Terroir and the Pathetic Fallacy, at ArtSway (18.April 2009 - 14 14 June 2009, with ArtSway curator Peter Bonnell. Terroir and the Pathetic Fallacy was a large-scale installation inspired by ArtSway’s rural location, incorporating sculpture, photography and sound work, of an imaginary tourist resort which plays upon pagan myths and weather elements, made out of inert edible vegetables. ‘Terroir’ is an imaginary and all-encompassing tourist resort, populated by people whose real character is disguised through vegetable outfits and masks. A world of horrific beauty and pagan characters created out of inert materials into a landscape based upon the architecture and design of palaces of dictators and presidents. ‘Terroir’ is a themed resort of ‘naturalistic pantheism’, which explores, celebrates and critiques architectures of power and constructed by ridiculous and inert vegetables. The installation featured a large-format photographic wrap-around images of the resort accompanied by portraits of the characters that inhabit this themed resort. Sound works include secrets of this imaginary resort, as told by the characters.
