Turning Places

作品賞析

Artist Lee Yi-Ya’s “Turning Places” series was created in 2021, during the COVID-19 pandemic. At that time, usual daily life was restricted indoors, so for reference he searched for images from home design magazines and rental websites to design a virtual space. This painting depicts a bathroom scene, with a large sink in the center and water from the faucet constantly flowing out. It looks as if the sink is about to overflow. It symbolizes the passage of time while also alluding to the inability to vent one’s emotions. The dark red curtain occupies nearly a quarter of the picture, acting as a barrier and filling the space with a sense of oppression. A few green plants on the windowsill on the left may be the only relief. The window blinds are reflected on the floor. What jerks us back into reality is that the window in the reflection is barred—it looks more like a prison from which we cannot escape. Through this work, Lee Yi-ya shows that during the pandemic, people’s lives were left with only suffocatingly narrow spaces, just large enough for turning around in.