Michelle Pauline Lim

Life is the laboratory of soul growth. The daily situations and circumstances that I encounter are the means through which I reflect, just like a grain that needs to be grounded on the mill of meaningful existence. Life is full of mystery with no definite key.

In my works, my understanding was opened to a vast research of infinity, a journey in a world filled with uncertainty and curiosity.

Ode to the Night, this was the state of mind I was in when I first approached the concept of the exhibit, my first after having graduated from the University of Santo Tomas. I had an extreme impulse to express my thoughts, and so I planned to use my own experiences so that my work would be more honest, direct and specific. I found myself thinking and questioning everything and still arriving at no answers, but as I went on, I gained awareness for I knew that what I wanted to express could never be fully captured in words. And because I had a medium which allowed me to work out my own answers in a different way, the struggle was sweeter and the result more fruitful.

Now, I was able to paint what was invisible and give color to sound. I came to realize that in understanding something, you must be involved. Seek hard and you shall find enough fragments of the answers. You'll never be able to complete the puzzle but you'll be able to have a glimpse of the whole picture and see that it is beautiful indeed.

I feel, however, that I have not achieved any tangible answer or solid statement as an artist, but that I still have much to work out. Now, I am taking the first steps in understanding just what it is about this existence that both leaves me in doubt and fills me with wonder.

(Solo Exhibit 2004)