Archival inkjet print on rice paper. Packed our lives into two 23kg suitcases, came abroad to build a life tailored to be easily uprooted, and soon back into the ‘home’ that is now an abstract concept. There is a struggle to re-create a home, or a feeling of home, but knowing material attachments are futile considering our transient status. International students are often exploited by immoral landlords who withhold deposit and instigate brazen conflicts. However, international students usually have no time to mediate disagreements after move-out because of hasty returns to their homelands, ending up on the losing end. “Rented”, is an ongoing series pertaining to international students in their rented living spaces, to reclaim the borrowed space. Although the wigs obscure the identities and gaze of the roommates’, a sense of hostility still permeates the veil- reflecting our predisposition to sweep matters under the rug to avoid trouble, with an undercutting theme of Asian stereotypes.
