Rooted Phantoms

This piece, developed during Alfeiran's Artbridger residency at Soho House Hong Kong, clearly aims to evoke memory, especially for those familiar with the surrounding area. The artwork presents a fragmented, pixelated figure influenced by Lichtenstein, though with raw distortions reminiscent of Bacon. There's also a dissolving quality, a touch of de Kooning in how the forms disassemble and come together. It speaks to the transience of identity and art itself. Artist statement "This work was created during my participation in the Artbridger Art Residency at Soho House Hong Kong, where I’ve been reflecting on The True Value of Art—what gives art its weight, its permanence, or its ephemerality in a world of constant change? This particular piece embodies that inquiry. It intertwines themes of memory, transformation, and the way history embeds itself in the present. The fragmented, pixelated figure draws from my research on Lichtenstein’s approach to capturing moments from a digitized world, while the raw, expressive distortions nod to Bacon’s grotesque intensity. De Kooning’s influence is present in the way forms dissolve and reassemble, creating a sense of instability—much like the transient nature of identity and art itself. My work is deeply personal, drawn from my own memories and identity in relation to the city of Hong Kong. It is shaped by the tension between displacement and belonging, between the past and the present. It brings together references from my heritage—Mexican craft traditions, familial joys and constraints, and the layered complexities of growing up near a graveyard, where death and memory were always present. Yet, beyond the personal, my work seeks to engage with the collective consciousness, exploring how our shared histories, cultural imprints, and ephemeral moments interweave to shape who we are."

Created By

Ane Alfeiran