Sai-Wai Foo

 ‘Unknown, Untitled’ commemorates 130 years since the laying of the foundation stone for Hawthorn Town Hall, now Hawthorn Arts Centre. Four contemporary artists have created new works based on historical and civic artefacts from the Town Hall Gallery Collection.

Sai Wai Foo’s two-dimensional sculptures from folded paper, ek.1 duo Emma Hicks and Katie Louise Williams’ hybrid objects created with items washed up on beaches, and Mathew Greentree’s large-scale photographic work, respond to the creativity and history of the City of Boroondara.

Sai-Wai Foo’s work explores ideas of status in society, focusing on the manipulation and folding of cut paper to produce sculptural volume and structure from a 2-dimensional medium.

Her works combine organic paper with other pieces of collected ephemera to create vignettes and still points in time. For Unknown, Untitled, Sai-Wai is currently looking at the origins of an ornamental frill or ruffle on the front of a shirt or blouse, typically made of lace.