Painting, Building and the Reconstruction of Everyday

This presentation explores the idea of rethinking painting as a way to reconstruct everyday space in the context of translocation. Drawing from my personal experience of moving from China to the UK, I examine how spatial displacement leads to the "failing of the everyday" and the subsequent process of its "reconstruction." The term "failing" refers to the sense of disorder and dysfunction in one's routines when entering an unfamiliar environment, while "reconstruction" describes the gradual re-establishment of daily habits, spaces, and relationships. Reflecting on these two phases, I consider how painting participates in this transformation as a site-responsive practice. I propose that painting can be understood as an act of building (Heidegger, 1971), particularly within a state of geographic and emotional fluidity.
Influenced by Henri Lefebvre's concept of space as "the interrelationship of things" (1991, p.73) and Michel de Certeau's idea of space as "practiced place" (1984, p.117), I argue that everyday space, especially for immigrants and displaced individuals, serves both as a site of alienation and a potential locus of creative resistance. In the aspect of art practice, I reference the work of Korean artist Do Ho Suh, who explores various ways of transforming, preserving, and relocating the homes he has lived in. His practice turns painting and drawing into methods of ritual, repetition, and spatial reconstruction.
This research employs a methodology that combines autoethnographic writing with practice-based research. Using my paintings as case studies, I explore three approaches that transform painting as a sensual object, emphasising bodily memory and sensory qualities of everyday space. My practice also playfully challenges fixed notions of space and reimagines institutional and symbolic structures through artistic intervention. Ultimately, I propose that painting can act as a tool for spatial negotiation and reconstruction, offering a tactile, poetic response to the instability of everyday life.
As an outsider navigating unfamiliar cultural landscapes, painting becomes my way of dwelling, resisting, and rebuilding meaning.