Phyllis Wong is an artist and architect with an eloquent eye for tiny details and a flair for spatial quality. She focuses on food-related and sustainability-driven subjects. Steered by her flair to provoke and manifest daily facts into artistic pleasure, Phyllis aims to translate information and data into contemporary and witty creations. Her series of work always combines and connects food-related themes with an appropriate spatial characteristic or a matching location. Within every framework lies her strong and vibrant composition skills. They are always combined with an adequate sense of aesthetic balance and harmony. This form of art direction strives to glorify her ideas to achieve a unique 'Gesamtkunstwerk'; total work of art.
The Factory; the boiler hall (2021) - The Factory is an ongoing series that serves to critique the effects of industrial dairy farming thru a collection of contemporary still life.
These five compositions showcase information and data related to the production of dairy milk. It investigates the dairy milk industry by translating different specifications via the still life setting and illustrating its statistics by coloured rings. This information includes what is and how much this commodity is produced, processed, consumed and wasted. The idea behind this series is to indicate a food-related agenda we consumers are experiencing while pairing it up with a matching spatial environment. This series was shot on location at the UNESCO heritage site - The Van Nelle Factory in Rotterdam, the Netherlands. The location is chosen for its stunning modernistic spatial interiors and its visual connection to a mass-production venue.
This image indicates how much of the 14 billion kilograms of dairy milk extracted in 2019 in the Netherlands is processed into 55% into cheese, 16% processed food, 14% milk powder, 7% milk, 6% condensed milk and 2% as butter
The Factory; the switchroom (2021) - The Factory is an ongoing series that serves to critique the effects of industrial dairy farming thru a collection of contemporary still life. This image indicates the global consumption of cheese from the top 5 countries in 2020 (with EU leading at 9k metric tons followed by USA 5k, Russia 1.3k, Brazil 0.7k, Mexico & Canada 0.5k)
The Factory; the bridge (2021) - The Factory is an ongoing series that serves to critique the effects of industrial dairy farming thru a collection of contemporary still life. This image indicates the production of dairy milk from the top 5 EU countries in 2019 with Germany leading at 35% (33.5 million tons), France 27%, the Netherlands 16%, Italy 13% and Spain/Ireland 8%
The Factory; the tearoom (2021) - The Factory is an ongoing series that serves to critique the effects of industrial dairy farming thru a collection of contemporary still life. This image indicates the top 5 types of food waste in the Netherlands that total amount to 589 million kg in 2019 with bread being most wasted at 33%, dairy goods 23%, vegetables 17%, fruits 14% and potatoes at 13%
The Factory; the cafe (2021) - The Factory is an ongoing series that serves to critique the effects of industrial dairy farming thru a collection of contemporary still life. This image indicates the global consumption of dairy milk from the top 5 countries in 2020 with India leading at 81k metric tons followed by EU 33k, USA 21k, China 12k and Brazil 11k
The Gentlemens House; the living room (2021) - 'Brexit has surprised us many. Countless daunting and irrational development that doesn’t seem to add up, of which also occur on the dining table. For a sweet tooth union liked the UK, the reliance list on their neighbours’ supplies for its scarcity is lengthy. More than half of the UK’s consumption of summer soft fruits are imported. Of which a loyal stockpile is purchased from The Netherlands. With the introduction of Brexit, these short shelf lives berries' journey across the Channel from the lowlands has become complicated. While pre-Brexit custom-free mobility proves effortless and straightforward, the freshness and short shelf life of such summer fruits are now challenged by newly introduced paperwork, trucks filed in confused beelines at Calais and the eventual inflating prices raiding consumers' wallets. It is sadly an act to jeopardize a country’s needs and food culture.
The Gentlemen’s House is an artistic attempt to illustrate a food-related agenda we consumers are experiencing, paired up with a matching spatial environment as companions. In this series, portray as the domestic backdrop, the visuals are captured in the handsome modernistic manor house, Huis van Ravesteyn, in Utrecht, The Netherlands. I intervened 'The Gentlemen’s House' with an open explorer's mind, by inserting the narrative of Brexit's repercussions while highlighting the articulated features of the house.
The Victoria Sponge cake, a quintessential English teatime treat showcased here in a living room scene portrays its familiarity with everyday life. Underlining within is the UK's reliance on the EU's soft fruits supply and the complexity Brexit bought about to trades with the EU.
The Gentlemen’s House; the kitchen (2021) - 'The Gentlemen's House' is an apolitical series that served as a visual evaluation of how a diplomatic decision like Brexit can affect its nation's sweet tooth diet. The Summer Pudding is a British sweet treat usually made during the summer. It is a fruity dessert made from layered white bread and a filling of cooked fresh summer mixed berries and currants. This pudding presented here in a modernistic kitchen and dining setting portrays its typicality with everyday life and its reliance on the EU's soft fruits supply due to its frequent consumption.
The Gentlemen’s House; the study (2021) - 'The Gentlemen's House' is an apolitical series that served as a visual evaluation of how a diplomatic decision like Brexit can affect its nation's sweet tooth diet. The summer fruit tart is another common teatime confection in the British dessert menu. This tart with a sweet pastry crust is usually topped with fresh raspberries and placed neatly one by one beside each other and garnished with cooked raspberries puree. This tartlet exhibited here in a study room set up portrays its normality with everyday life and its reliance on the EU's soft fruits supply due to its frequent consumption.
The Gentlemens House; the stool (2021) - 'The Gentlemen's House' is an apolitical series that served as a visual evaluation of how a diplomatic decision like Brexit can affect its nation's sweet tooth diet. What happens to fresh soft fruits when their short shelf life is threatened by Brexit's custom delays. Are the Englishmen prepared to have it frozen then thawed instead of freshly plucked?
The Gentlemens House; the shelves (2021) - 'The Gentlemen's House' is an apolitical series that served as a visual evaluation of how a diplomatic decision like Brexit can affect its nation's sweet tooth diet. What happens to fresh soft fruits when their short shelf life is threatened by Brexit's custom delays. Are the Englishmen prepared to have it frozen then thawed instead of freshly plucked?
