By juxtaposing the soft and yielding surface of used bra cups, Low Seok Loo seeks to invoke the outwardly warm and welcoming embrace of an abusive partner. The big picture reveals a far more sinister reality, however. The artist emphasizes that there is hope by installing a heart-shaped form inside the shark’s mouth and by “sewing up” its mouth with bra straps, indicating captured “fish” have many ways of either making an accommodation or effecting an escape.
Feedback from exhibit visitors was on the whole positive but Low Seok Loo received an unexpected response from more than a few older Chinese men, who stated they felt a sense of fear and trepidation when invited to touch the bra cups. The artist decided, based on these responses, to pursue her bra art as an investigation of a little-known cultural taboo against women’s underwear.
Low Seok Loo titled her subsequent bra art series “Lean on You and Me”. According to the artist, “I affixed bra cups on sofas, walls and vehicles. The original plan of the Bra Vehicles series was to record the public reaction as I drove around George Town but I was warned by traffic police that it is an offense.” Though the artist received much media coverage during the exhibition, the tone of the reporting was mostly negative “and I received more negative feedback from locals too. From this, I know I did the right thing about (pursuing) the investigation.” (images © WENN.com)


