“Time speeds up when we have fun; slows down while we wait; and stands still when we fall in love.” - Dawn Ng.

From her larger body of work titled Into Air, Here Comes the Sun represents an alternative form of perceiving time. The frozen block of ice consists of an architecture of acrylics, inks, watercolours and dyes that would inevitably melt. Surrendering to its dissolution, the work elaborates on the idea of a complete cycle—exposed to the elements, the ice would melt and turn into air, a metamorphosis, from monumentality to nothingness. The work challenges our perception of time as constant and linear; rather, it leans into abstractions and the cyclical nature of time.

There is a remarkable attempt to accept and surrender to time, while also trying to suspend and hold it. The artist wishes to move away from looking at time as we always have—in a cold, mathematical way by measuring and processing it through days, hours, minutes and seconds. Instead, Dawn explores time through its evocative nature and emotive quality. It is reminiscent of Salvador Dalí’s melting clocks in The Persistence of Memory—wherein time loses all meaning, and permanence vanishes. Utilising ice as a medium with photography, Dawn comments on the balance we seek to allow time to pass but pause it at the same time in a solitary sanctuary, an ode to a glorious memory. There is a sense of loss one feels when looking at the work and a need to fill the void with immortalisation. The title, Here Comes the Sun, is famously inspired by the song by The Beatles that recalls themes of hope and a new beginning and as Dawn adds another meaning to it, the shared human comfort of facing the unknown.