E.Mo. (Mountains) is a series shaped by distance—between the self and the natural world, between desire and access. Created during quarantine using expired paints, the work reflects an inability to physically encounter mountainous landscapes, translating that absence into material instability. The aging pigments crack, fade, and resist control, mirroring a psychological terrain marked by longing, suspension, and emotional erosion.
The mountains here are not geographic descriptions but emotional topographies. They emerge as memories rather than destinations, rendered through compromised materials that echo the stalled temporality of isolation. Landscape becomes something imagined, recalled, and imperfectly held.
This inward turn connects E.Mo. to deBorder, where boundaries are negotiated through spill and overlap, and to soot(he), where physical presence in remote landscapes reintroduces stillness and attentiveness. Together, these works trace a movement from cultural thresholds, to emotional distance, to a renewed—though cautious—engagement with place.
CREATED BY: Stephen Chen | COMPLETED: 16/07/2020
