Present-Tense grew out of conversations about the realities of artistic practice, seen from the perspective of artists themselves. Its curatorial direction seeks to dismantle the mystique surrounding the unseen labour that sustains artistic careers and processes. Like everyone else, artists navigate the same social and political realities, weaving their practice through shifting emotional, social and material needs. Artmaking, then, is not an isolated pursuit but a way of living. In balancing pragmatic, daily obligations with creative impulses, artists transform fragments of life into works that offer glimpses of the human condition. Each piece carries traces of survival, intimacy and reflection, revealing how art is both shaped by, and responsive to, the everyday and the world.

This exhibition is an invitation to view artistic practice not as distant or mysterious, but as a deeply human endeavour, fragile, resilient and inseparable from the urgencies of life.