Reaction to Sea of Hope by Josh Chrobak

This week marks the opening of Foon Sham's Sea of Hope, which is an installation in homage to his mother who passed away from cancer in 2002. The wooden vessel is in the shape of a boat, which will help carry his mothers spirit into the afterlife. Surrounding the installation are origami boats with messages that viewers from all over the world have written to their loved ones. Sham has displayed this installation in Hong Kong, Macau, Australia and the United States; With each installation his collection of origami boats grows, and therefore the "Sea of Hope" grows.

I am currently enrolled in the Professional Practices class here at Loyola, and we were fortunate enough to help Foon Sham install Sea of Hope and hear him speak about his experience with building and displaying this work all throughout the world. He spoke about how the vessel is so large that it would be extremely expensive to send it from continent to continent, so he built a different vessel in the US, Hong Kong, and in Australia. He also built a vessel in South America, to present in Chile, but the gallery was not able to show it. Sham, still wanting to show homage to his late mother, decided to burn the vessel and record it. There is a video of this ceremony in the gallery as well.

I highly suggest coming to check out the exhibit, and add to the Sea of Hope. The installation is interactive and heartwarming, there are interesting drawings, and the ceremonial video. The exhibit is currently on display and will be until November 21, 2019. Foon sham will also be coming to The Julio Fine Art gallery for an artist reception this Thursday, October 24, from 6-8 pm. He will also be having a lecture in the McManus Theatre on Tuesday, Novemebr 19, at 7 pm. If you are free this Thursday night or Tuesday November 19th, I wouldn't miss the opportunity to hear Foon speak. Foon is a really creative and kind man, listening to him speak about his work is very humbling.

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