Koh Xin Hui

Theme: Alternate Perspectives

Distinction, School Category, 2026

Artist statement:

In 'Elastic Heart', I explored the invisible architecture of emotion through a surreal dreamscape suspended outside the bounds of time. At the core of the painting is a house built in the shape of an anatomical heart, occupied by a nameless character who has been forever lost in a timeless dimension. Unlike its depiction in many paintings, the figure doesn't represent an individual but the collective experience of humans when experiencing emotional vulnerability and resilience. Heart-house is the character's inner fortress and prison at the same time. As an emblematic representation of the emotional self, it is the place of memories, attachments, and pain of survival. Like the heart it represents, the heart-house is vulnerable yet durable. While it suffers the stress caused by emotions, it stretches and bends but never collapses, which is the meaning behind 'Elastic Heart' - the capacity of a human heart to go through any form of suffering, grief, longing, and change without breaking apart. Forest represents a subconscious mind - mysterious, immeasurable and unescapable. By eliminating visible signs of time such as night, day, or seasons, we create an illusion of timelessness.

About the Artist

Koh Xin Hui, 15
Hua Yi Secondary School