In these two films, Matthew Goh explores ideas of circularity - between man and nature, and between artist and the process of making art. 

The starting point for this project was Matthew’s interest in how a person copes with the many changes that are present in life. He drew parallels between changes in the environment such as clouds in the sky and the cellular levels in which his own body was also constantly evolving. This, to him, was the movement of breath at both macrocosmic and microcosmic levels. Taking inspiration from water that pervades both sectors, the Japanese paper marbling technique of Suminagashi served as an initial laboratory exploration. In this case, the contained but constantly moving water allowed space for Matthew to ruminate on how changes made him feel. How does one breathe life into this process - ie bring new ideas and energy to the process? Is artmaking a constant state of transiency? For him as an artist, the process of finding an impetus to begin a work can be elusive and daunting. How can he find a starting point amidst the unknown

Mulling over this, Matthew revisited Water Study by Doris Humphrey. The signature use of fall and recovery, and breath rhythm, drew him to the sea. Wherein lies the exchange of breath and life between two bodies (Human and Ocean)? Beyond the spiritual quality attributed to the sea across many cultures, the unpredictable nature of its waves and currents gave Matthew a physical realisation of how an artist sieves through these changes. To him, the sea was as elusive and mystifying as the creative process - grandeur and fear of being consumed rolled into one. Being in the buoyant waves encouraged Matthew to drift through his own stream of consciousness, while being cognizant of how the currents may pull him further from shore. Engaged with the water body like a pas de deux, Matthew explored how the water manipulated his movements and shaped his bodily expression. Captioning each dialogue with a specific word like “tease”, “greet” and “pulse”, Matthew then played with the arrangement of these words to create a poem that captured the memory of being in the sea. The poetry then guided the sequencing of the memoryscapes that we see in the film - throwing into relief questions on art-making and the ephemerality of being.