Mary Bernadette Lee, Godot is Waiting, 2015
Acrylic on canvas
46 x 61 cm
Condition: Very good
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Mary Bernadette Lee (Singaporean, b. 1985) is an artist, educator, and illustrator whose practice explores the intersection of body, space, and identity through a phenomenological lens. Since 2014, she has engaged in a variety of mediums, including painting, printmaking, ceramics, textiles, and performance, to examine psychological states and the concept of home. Her work often involves community collaboration, notably with caregivers and individuals with intellectual disabilities, as seen in her project I Carry You in My Heart. Lee holds degrees from the National University of Singapore (BA in English Literature and Communications & New Media, 2006) and Nanyang Technological University (BFA in Visual Communication, 2014). She currently serves as an adjunct lecturer at the Nanyang Academy of Fine Arts.
The seller does not profess to speak on behalf of the artist’s intention, nor dictate how anyone - including a buyer - should view or interpret this work.
However, this work was acquired at a time when the seller was thinking a lot about safeguarding one’s own mindspace, even in the process of waiting for outcomes or answers that are out of one’s control. The external landscapes peeking through windows of time in this piece range from clear views of the night sky to torrential rain, and may rapidly change; what we passively observe going on in the world or in our lives may similarly be unpredictable.
The seller was drawn to the different postures of the figures within the house as they drifted through various rooms, seeming to wait and observe endlessly, at times accompanied but mostly alone; at times appearing at peace, on other occasions seeming impatient, anxious. The perpetually changing interior of the house and the warping of the room’s structural integrity often calls to mind how we constantly build and rebuild our inner lives and responses to the outside world; at the end of the day, it’s not just passively accepting and ‘hiding away’ from the world out there; we have a certain agency and get to be the architects of our own responses and inner worlds.
This painting was hung in a stairwell at a family home, a common passage in which people briefly pass as they go about their daily lives; it served as a reminder over the years to pause and process new thoughts and feelings as they arise, even while transiting through. Even through this period of time, the interpretation of this painting and emotions evoked when contemplating it have also changed.
This family home is now also evolving in its form and structure - the figures within it are transitioning out of the home. Although the seller wishes that they could hang onto each and every piece of work, with these changes it is the seller’s hope that this painting may be interpreted anew through fresh eyes, and safely handed over to someone who will treasure it for a moment in time.
The seller acquired the artwork directly from the artist.
(Photographed in April 2025)