︎

Adeline Kueh



Lifelines (2022)

Installation of 3 photographs, one pair of moon blocks on a wooden board 30cm diameter, bark cloth twine, organza, weaved pouches of organza ribbons, spices, tea leaves and wild rice, strips of paper with texts
The work is about a kind of return – returning full circle to Sarawak, some 30-odd years after leaving home. Like Santiago, the shepherd boy in Paulo Coelho's The Alchemist who travelled the world to seek the most wonderful treasures, the realisation is that the treasure is within oneself all along, where one started. Lifelines combines my attempts to weave organza ribbons – and the futility of the process – alongside some assembled and bundled items: images from the 70s and 90s by the museum grounds and waterfront where I had my 'training', divining blocks, strips of texts from a book and spices.
The organza pouches are not meant to be solid and hardy like most functional, woven items in Sarawak but function instead as items of care, to swaddle or bundle specific spices like pepper and rice. They are like an embrace or a hug, to gently hold something dear.



The circle (2022)



Recycled jute & scrap fabric rug, wooden table
The circle is a meeting point for conversations and workshops to happen, consisting of a low table and a recycled scrap fabric and jute rug.








Adeline Kueh makes installations, photography and socially-embodied works that reconsider the relationship we have with things and rituals around us. Her works are imbued with a sense of desire and longing, and act as modern day totems that explore personal histories, overlooked moments and intimate labour. Using drawing as a conceptual tool, Adeline looks to cartographies, craft and oral traditions to map out historical trajectories across time and space through her use of found objects and new productions. As a co-founder of the Critical Craft Collective, the centrality of craft in contemporary practice as well as the politics of care have become increasingly important in the collective’s push towards creating the Craft Council of Singapore. 
Presently a Senior Lecturer with the MA Fine Arts programme with McNally School of Fine Arts, LASALLE College of the Arts, Adeline has exhibited in the United Kingdom, USA, South Korea, The Netherlands, Turkey, Indonesia, Serbia, Australia and Singapore. Rooted in critical studies, Adeline has also chaired and presented at a number of cultural studies conferences in the UK, Germany, Australia, Finland, Hungary, Singapore and Malaysia. Adeline was involved in the Word of Mouth exhibition in the 2019 Venice Biennale, and was a consultant/designer for projects including the Passion Made Possible Culture Shaper Tribe films (Singapore Tourism Board) in 2019 and Hermes Singapore in 2016. In 2021, Adeline was part of Singapore Tyler Print Institute’s Visiting Artists Programme (VAP) Residency.

Adeline is also the curator of ephemera.