Permission to Play (2024)

Pure Art Lab 2024 student showcase

Permission to Play - Foreword by Lizzie Wee and Dylan Chan

It’s natural as adults to find ourselves thinking back upon our childhoods, a time of jovial innocence filled with curiosity and a sense of wonder. A simple stick we found along a path could be transformed into a plethora of fantastical objects only limited by our own imagination. While we also underwent the youthful stresses of achieving academic excellence, it seems like the children of this generation have increasingly more responsibilities to shoulder at a young age. From exceeding expectations in school, to a plethora of extra curricular activities, one can’t help but wonder where and when these children find time to simply be kids; having a chance to play and moments to rest.. 

With this exhibition, we wanted to give ourselves as the curators and the children artists, the opportunity to consider what it means to play and also to rest. Can play become a form of rest in between responsibilities? Or can rest be a kind of play, where we engage our imagination to take us to places unknown? We encouraged the young artists to consider these questions and combine them with what they have learned in class to create collaborative group artworks and to also construct their own individual projects. Using these ideas of playful rest and restful play, we hope to provide our students the tools to forge fond memories during their childhoods through to their adolescence, and a chance to find pockets of peace within their hectic schedules.  

The exhibition is curatorially divided into two sections - At Play and At Rest. Within both sections, we see a great range of works, from collages to mixed media sculpture and even fabric based pieces. These themes seek to push the young artists past their comfort zone of traditional mediums such as painting and drawing, allowing them to encounter and experiment with unusual materials and shift their perspectives on not only what art can be, but also what it means to play.

At Play features works that consider the notion of play, as a means to have fun, as a way of thinking, making, or looking at artwork, and as a joyful expression of each individual child. These works are exciting and exude the energy that the young artists had while making the works. On the other hand, At Rest holds space for works that take a pause and deliberate on what resting can mean. This is where children carve out spaces for themselves, or contemplate places that feel restful, like their homes and bedrooms, where they let their inner worlds shine through and ask viewers to take time to slowly process the works in this space.

Both of us are privileged to not only be the curators of this exhibition, but also teachers to these inspiring young artists who have made these engaging works. We hope you enjoy Permission to Play, and that it reminds us all that you do not need to be a child to play, and by experiencing the world with a child-like innocence and refreshing our perspective, we can give ourselves the necessary permission to play and have fun, no matter what age we are.

Dylan Chan and Lizzie Wee