Siew Guang Hong
 

Across 24 hours, Siew cuts stock images of carp out of the stack of papers they are printed on. Carefully following the contours of the fish, the cut outs are slipped off the table, out of the artist’s sight.

Life release 放生 is a Buddhist custom where people release captive animals into the wild; though many people also perform similar releases of animals independent from religious reasons. The gestures of cutting in A Mercy echo this custom, expanding to reflect on where attention is and is not directed to when people handle the bodies of the other. As each fish is meticulously carved out, Siew touches on acts of seeing and staging, as well as the fetishisation of tradition, labour and accumulation.