That Bunny in the Window
Words by Koki LXX
From the nostalgia and carefree days explored in her debut solo exhibition Down Dreamy Memory Lanes, Angelica So pulls us aside to tell us a story.
Once upon a time, Bunny (the artist’s OC*) was sitting in front of a mirror, when all of a sudden she was transported to a land of candy rivers, cake mountains, icing clouds, and giant strawberries. Here she meets a giant rabbit named Hugr, and they go about frolicking in this berry wonderland – but things get out of hand when Hugr shows more to her personality than one expects of a tea-party host! Impulsive, eggheaded, and with a whole lot of attitude, Hugr seems too much to handle for our Bunny.
Opting to delve within for this exhibition, the artist confronts and tackles self-doubt and inner conflict. Like a Johari Window,* Bunny meets Hugr – a giant and with a slightly differently hairstyled version of herself – an embodiment of herself that she doesn’t always acknowledge, but clearly exists, and is often noticed by those around her. Hidden desires and longings for herself are expressed through the vignettes that appeared in Bunny’s dream.
In A Bittersweet Offering, Hugr offers Bunny an enormous strawberry heart amongst a Dali-esque background of giant sweets. This fruit has been known to stand for purity and passion, one of So’s realizations in getting to know herself more. As if a cutaway view through a person’s chest, Tea Party at Hugr’s Chamber depicts an inner dialog, complete with niceties and pleasantries before things get rough – as the human cycle usually goes through – as well as something like a strawberry heart in the background. With Eggheaded Blockbuster, we are given a portrait of a person who is impulsive, always wanting instant gratification; an unhealthy kind to have around. It’s never a good sign to be around someone that constantly makes us feel like we’re walking on eggshells. The name Hugr itself – usually translated from the Norse as “thought” or “mind” – has been used to refer to an “inner self.” The Strangest Dream strikes a perfect analogy with Through the Looking Glass, and What Alice Found There, Lewis Caroll’s 1871 novel. We, as viewers, are given just that. We are transported through a magical storybook world complete with a three-dimensional Berry Conch and Trusty Carrot.
Hugr makes it up to our heroine by sharing a personal secret. We all need time and a small gesture to realign with ourselves. It's perfectly fine to have a self-love/self-loathe relationship, but we must always remember to be kind to ourselves. This is the moral of A Tale of Two Bunnies: anchoring ourselves to a healthy reality (in Bunny’s case, a carrot) is necessary to allow ourselves to explore and be at peace with our wild, and maybe sometimes mean, sides.
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*OC - original character
*Johari Window - a model of window with 4 quadrants that represents our open, blind, hidden, and unknown personality aspects
