My recent paintings are ongoing construction sites, depict a real site of gentrification in South London where my studio also used to be situated. Since a property developer bought one of the old buildings, artists could rent workspaces for uncertain periods of the time until permission was granted to build a new luxurious apartment. To build someone’s bright new home, some artist had to lose their workplace. These could even be life threatening for people who have lived in an area for years or for their whole lives. In this series, I ask if I am a victim of this brilliant future plan, gentrification.
        I use an imagination of utopia; that is, the landscape of new homes, nostalgic scenes or holiday sights. They are all real images from somewhere but they become unreal in my paintings, while still somehow looking real. While some people are dreaming of their new homes and putting their savings and mortgages into as-yet-unreal spaces, others are losing their lifelong homes, while others are making lots of money. The paradox of home and gentrification is situated in this heterotopic space, which looks like an unreality but exists everywhere in the city in which we live.

        Contact
yanghwaa@gmail.com