Everyday Magic (2024)

do you believe in magic

Created between continents, this video work looks at the idea of ‘magic’ as defined in the anthropological sense of a broad range of beliefs and practices used in everyday circumstances, regardless if it refers to a specific religion or belief. Magic as a practice might have been once thought of as primitive, but in contemporary life we see behaviours and symbols in varying fields (de Waal Malefayt, 2021).

This research into superstitions and mundane rituals which are found across cultures and countries speaks to the very universal human need to control that which we cannot, like the intangible flow of luck, both good and bad. The only video work in the Luck Project (2011-ongoing) so far.

The responsive text was composed as the video was being edited from clips taken over the course of 5 years. The video spans several different cities and places, from Singapore to Johannesburg, and reflects upon the rituals and symbols found in the various cultures from the traditional practices of the various Chinese and Southeast Asian cultures, most familiar to the artist, to the novel and remarkable rituals found in everyday life in foreign and familiar lands.