A fabric Everest

Sorcha O’Raghallaigh (left) and Sookoon Ang creating an installation in the shape of a mountain that is made from fabric. ST PHOTO: LIM YAOHUI

After graduating from Central Saint Martins in 2010, London-based fashion designer Sorcha O'Raghal- laigh started her own label, dressed shop windows and made bespoke pieces for celebrities such as Lady Gaga and Kate Moss.

In Singapore, in collaboration with Singaporean artist Sookoon Ang, she is doing something radically different - installation art.

She is creating a gigantic mountain made out of white cloth, for an exhibition called Everest. The show, curated by June Yap, opens next Wednesday at Objectifs Chapel Gallery Space.

Named after the world's highest peak, Everest explores the themes of monumentality and the intensity and ambition it takes to achieve greatness. It evokes the feeling of being awestruck by something spectacular and, at the same time, questions the challenges of scaling it.

The exhibition shows marked contrasts in scale. O'Raghallaigh's work takes the form of a mountain of fabric often used for bridal gowns.

  • VIEW IT/ EVEREST

  • WHERE: Objectifs Chapel Gallery Space, 155 Middle Road

    WHEN: Next Wednesday to Feb 21, noon to 7pm (Tuesday to Saturday). Noon to 4pm (Sunday)

    ADMISSION: Free

    INFO: Call 6336-2957 or go to www.objectifs.com.sg

Ang creates smaller sculptures made of bronze and wax, videos and drawings inspired by landscapes and seascapes.

When The Straits Times checked on the work-in-progress, the duo were hunched over metres of fabric. Ang, 38, and O'Raghallaigh, 31, who knew of each other's work via social media, both sang praises of the chapel gallery.

O'Raghallaigh says: "The Gothic connection makes it different from a formal gallery space. It has the idea of romance, yet there is something dark about it."

Built in 1870, the Chapel Gallery was home to Sculpture Square from 1999 to 2014 and was recently taken over by Objectifs, a centre for photography, film-making and art. The pillar-free gallery has a 9m-high ceiling which is often hard to find here.

"I find there is a beautiful element of romanticism here," says Ang. "It was the kind of place I was looking for as I explored themes where the real and magical collide."

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A version of this article appeared in the print edition of The Straits Times on January 15, 2016, with the headline A fabric Everest. Subscribe