Ang Xue Ning is a multidisciplinary artist and alumna of NAFA (Diploma in Fine Art, 2020). Her practice centres on material experimentation, using sculpture and mixed media to investigate perception, transformation, and the relationship between materiality and meaning.
Waiting for the Salt examines the human condition through a mixed-media sculpture of a squid, which serves as a proxy for reflecting on human behaviour and perception. Drawing on notions of absurdism, the work presents the squid in an ambiguous scenario that blurs the boundaries between subject and object, nature and culture. Its title evokes multiple associations - from the act of seasoning food and the anticipation of what comes next, to the anthropomorphising of an animal intended for consumption. These deliberate ambiguities resist a single interpretation, inviting viewers to question their assumptions about the relationship between humans and the natural world. Through Waiting for the Salt, the artist encourages reflection on the complex and often contradictory ways in which people perceive, consume and relate to nature.
