and here we sit
in the weight of silence

Written by Ellen Lee

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Made six years after the passing of the artist’s father and seven years after the passing of her grandmother, Kimberley Boudville’s and here we sit, in the weight of silence is an installation that captures the loneliness of a dinner table absent of warmth and personality. In Malaysia, where multi-generational households are still a common living arrangement, dinners are generally considered more important than breakfast or lunch, because it is the only meal of the day where the family gathers together for bonding time outside the pressures of work and school.

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From afar, the objects on Kimberley’s table look like real food—bright, warm and inviting. But closer inspection reveals the sheen of their glaze and unmasks them as ceramic pieces, eternally preserved in their untouched freshness. The scene is made additionally poignant by the abundance and variety of food—Chinese-style steamed fish is served alongside Malay kuih, and plates of fruit, buns, salad, fried chicken, even a cake in the middle—as if the table had been laid with consideration to every absent family member’s favourite foods.