Luck Project (2011 - ongoing)
2011 - Ongoing
The Luck Project came out of a desire to understand what it is about human nature that compels us to try to control that which is out of our grasp, namely luck (good or bad). In melding the superstitions learned in the various cultures and places Lizzie Wee has lived in, this project examines different superstitions and the tension between gestures and symbols which only hold meaning to those in the know.
good luck (step) (2012)
Site-specific installation with text
goodluck (step) (2012) was an installation of a high step into the entrance of a white cube gallery space with the words ‘Good Luck’ painted on the ground. In reference of the high step often found in places of worship or older dwellings in some parts of Asia, these steps require one to perform a ritual gesture to enter a space with respect, in stepping over the step in order to enter the space, this gesture forces the viewer to re-orient their body and consider what it means interact with the step ‘wrongly’ - will it invite calamity? thus turning the tone of the words in front of the viewer sardonic, as an omen of what’s to come.
goodluck (poster) (2013)
handpainted ink text on rice paper posters with inkjet print copies of watercolour lucky cats
goodluck (poster) (2012) was a conceptual work that featured the artist distributing a free poster to hang on your front door. Taking reference from auspicious signs hung on doorways upside down to ‘trick’ lucky spirits to enter your home during the festive period of Chinese or Lunar New Year. The lucky cat painted takes reference from another well-known lucky symbol with both paws up to signify drawing in the most amount of luck possible.
babe ruth (2013)
silkscreen print with colour pencil
This silkscreen print features the image of infamous baseball player Babe Ruth, who was seen as both an icon of good and bad luck when he was on different teams. Superstitions run strongly in the sports world which led the artist to do research on specific people who emulated good or bad luck, and somehow found someone who represented both. As a versatile symbol of luck, where his status of being a good or bad omen flip-flopped in correspondence to the baseball team he played for and their track record, Babe Ruth was a fascinating figure to Lizzie.
Come Rain or Shine (2024) & Lucky You Lucky Me (2024)
umbrella with vintage lucky red packet emblems, glue, sticker pack
Drawing on Lizzie’s research into symbols and gestures of luck, Come Rain or Shine (2024) takes the unlucky gesture of opening an umbrella in an enclosed space, and considers how we can negate that bad luck, perhaps with lucky symbols and emblems from red packets, which creates tension. Paired with the sticker pack as the artist-made merchandise for The Collectible Experience (2024), a group show featuring 10 different artists producing 2 lines of merchandise either inspired by their artwork, or that inspired a future work of art.
How to Make a Lucky Rock (2024)
Aluminium foil, polymer clay, googly eyes, luck, Video (2m31s)
As part of the TRANSFORMAT108N - Ripples 2.0: Yap Hong Ngee Solo Exhibition & The 18th Our World Exhibition presented by Jane Yap Atelier, graced by Malaysia's Deputy Minister of Education, YB Wong Kah Woh, who served as the guest of honour, in Kuala Lumpur, How to Make a Lucky Rock (2024) was inspired by the painting by Yap Hong Ngee and the concept of “a stone thrown into water, stirring ripples”. Featuring artwork of over 108 artists both teachers and students alike, the showcase was the context for a whimsical sculpture and video work which instructed viewers how to make their own lucky pet rocks. Taking reference from childhood wishes for a pet and the idea of taking one’s own luck into one’s hands, How to Make A Lucky Rock, shows specific and vague steps for imbuing an inanimate object with ‘luck’ and indirectly with whimsy and humour. As a performative video work in which the sculpture of the rock remains as an artefact of performing the process of attributing luck, the work acts as a research exercise into the ongoing Luck Project as a catalogue of ‘lucky’ actions.
Everyday Magic (2024)
Video work
Everyday Magic (2024)
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). Everyday Magic depicts the research process of examining superstitions and ritual practices from the spiritual to mundane across cultures and countries. Related to the Luck Project that subverts and re-imagines the fusion of Southeast Asian and Western traditions and superstitions learned through the artist’s own lived experiences, Everyday Magic speaks to the very universal human need to control that which we cannot, like the intangible flow of luck, both good and bad.