![](https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/d9f7c8d00430f643dbb86da8c925d83b3fa32782a8a4c6f9a76d1f9b9b17b993/still-what-is-left_Nikki-Lam_01_WEB.jpg)
Still... what is left
2018
Two-channel video installation and performance
Sound Design: Supina Bytol and Beatrice Lewis
Videography: Scott Heinrich
Still... what is left explores the abstraction of rituals and their residue as a result of migration. Neither here nor there, gestures merged from the past and re-imagined as the artist re-performs gestures from the past. Cycles of repetitive gestures conjure the emotions of performing a ritual, particularly for those who no longer practice them.
I cannot remember
the stories, gestures, movements
Every detail is re-appropriated.
Bow your head,
palms together
Ashes on bowls of rice
I cannot remember
Arms open,
eyes closed
Small steps forward
Crotch over a paper bridge
In a white funeral hall
The bell rings
Flashes of light—
Resonance of the past.
It breaks away
It pauses,
retraces its steps
sees a double image
I cannot remember
What is left
still, I see
is what it oughts to be.
![](https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/379b5b1a876d5ef6f2e165b81ab7c02f535b997604d58b521be27abc39051632/Hyphenated---Lam--N-Web-01.jpg)
Still... what is left, 2018, Installation view at Hyphenated, The Substation
The video was adapted into a three-channel installation with live performances and presented at Underbelly Arts Festival 2017 as part of Resonance by Anonymous Migrant.
![](https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/b308905c883f1adaf273a13cc500dbb93b46634a2851e31d275029dc5b32e616/NL_Underbelly_Installation01_WEB.jpg)
Performances throughout Underbelly Arts Festival, October 2017, photos credit Tim da Rin
![](https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/fb46cd870a83195220268a91ecfbd767d7b434ac496f325816234d5d8c774974/Resonance-at-Underbelly-Arts-2017--photo-credit-Tim-da-Rin.jpeg)
![](https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/729bb4b7cb454409f589e9eee4d6896d4cf3a7a281309a526aa824f21fcf5deb/Resonance-at-Underbelly-2017--credit-Tim-da-Rin.jpeg)
Resonance, 2017
Visual concept, video and installation: Nikki Lam
Performance: Nikki Lam
Sound design: Sudeep Lingamneni
Cinematography: Scott Heinrich
Dramaturg: Felix Ching Ching Ho
The project is supported by Footscray Community Arts Centre and Underbelly Arts.