Existing in equal parts as a writer and an artist, Trina Teoh, with her anonymous identity and rapturing street artwork have tremendously shaped her scintillating presence in the art scene, both locally and internationally. Her art—lots of which can be found across zinc panelling and concrete walls on the island of Penang and around Kuala Lumpur—provokes deep emotion for its poetic prose-like nature.
But when prompted to explain her writing process and what motivates her style of writing, she offers a curt yet resounding response: “I don’t necessarily have an intended meaning, or this need to convey certain things in my writing. I write in a manner of abstraction because the intent and subject matter of my work is not necessarily on the output or what is being said.”
Rather, Teoh’s subject matter is an interesting one that emphasises the viewer as the subject. “Take a painting of a bowl of fruit. The fruit and the bowl become the subject matter. Because my work is centred around text and words, the viewer determines the interpretation of my work.” As the viewer evolves or as the viewer changes from person to person, the interpretation of the artist’s work changes. Her work is not only transient in nature but is also ephemeral.
The text-based artist does not consider herself a poet but rather a writer. It is within this grey area of writing that she exists as an artist. When queried on her adoration for her skills in writing, she shares that it was her parents who inculcated her love for reading, which in turn bloomed her interest in writing. “I knew, I think, that at the age of 10, I was going to become a writer.” Teoh’s interest in art, however, was one sparked by her mother; an early introduction that was made to the artist. She adds that her mother’s art practice in clay opened her up to the world of art. She comes to a realisation when speaking on her creativity, explaining rather clearly that if “you are nurturing by nature, you are inherently creative.”
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